This review has been a long time coming, and I apologise for that – like many of you, I needed some time to process.

At the risk of stating the obvious, plowing through this final book in the Sookie Stackhouse series was….painful. No, scratch that. It was excruciating. It was the reading equivalent of being strung up and repeatedly kicked in the nuts, while having your fingernails pulled out with pliers.

I’m talking Theon Greyjoy type painful, OKAY?

It takes time for one to recover from that. And it takes time to get your head around the fact that a life-long reading habit and a university education is, in fact, no insurance against waking up one day to find that you are actually completely fucking illiterate.

How on earth did I get this SO wrong? So many hours, so many re-reads, so much time and effort spent analysing this paranormal fantasy series – and still I utterly fail to grasp what I am told is a perfectly logical ending. OBVIOUSLY a part fairy/part human girl, marked from birth for “great things” in a fantasy world, would aspire to spend the rest of her life right where she began – endlessly mowing her magic Miracle-Gro lawn, fronting up to church on Sunday and fucking like a seal in a trailer parked permanently alongside the town bar.

Clearly, the critical thinking skills my philosophy major was designed to impart didn’t quite take. At least, those skills aren’t up to snuff when pitted against a complex work like the Southern Vampire Mysteries. Or is it the Sookie Stackhouse Novels? Or the True Blood books? Or the…never mind. What my philosophy major DID teach me is that there’s a time to own your shit in an argument – a time to cut your losses and acknowledge that you and your opponent are never, ever going to be same page.

So in the spirit of philosophical inquiry, here I am. Owning my lack of English comprehension like a big girl, and trying to unpack this fictional nightmare in the only way I know how.

With sarcasm, liberal lashings of booze…and an extra-large, steaming serving of entitlement.

MIXED MESSAGES

For a long time (twelve books, to be precise), I thought I was reading a series about tolerance, acceptance and outsiders finding their place in the world. For Sookie, the girl with the unwanted gift who was shunned by her community; and for the supernaturals who found themselves outed and living in a world that neither wanted nor understood them, the metaphor seemed self evident. It was reinforced over and over, every time Sookie risked life and limb to fight alongside those who were “other”, every time she defended them against the prejudiced slurs of her fellow humans. I loved to read about the plucky human fairy, with a foot in both worlds – rooting for her to eventually find a bridge between them. Sookie and her supes seemed the perfect metaphor for embracing diversity in a less than perfect world.

Cool, huh?

Actually…NO. As it turns out, this was only the first of many, many examples of our lack of reading comprehension. With the final piece of the puzzle in our hands, we now have a clearer – if somewhat less appealing – picture of what these books were really trying to say.

Rather than leaving Sookie to chalk her supernatural walk on the wild side up to experience and wander off into the sunset with her giant tomatoes (an ending that would be lame, but at least not a betrayal of all that came before it), for some inexplicable reason Harris has decided that deep down, Sookie is actually as bigoted and small minded as the rest of Bon Temps.

The message here, dear reader, (in case that sledgehammer Harris was swinging around didn’t quite connect with your comprehension-challenged skull) is that people – as Sam prophetically told Sookie in Deadlocked – never really change. Sometimes people are just too different. Sometimes, certain types of people simply shouldn’t mix at all, no matter how much they might want to co-exist. Meat and potatoes may not be the tastiest choice on the menu, but it sure is the safest. Wait patiently for long enough, and your just desserts will fall right out of the sky and land squarely in your denim-cut-off-wearing-lap. To hell with taking a chance, or fighting for what you love. The fight isn’t worth it, and the risk takers end up the biggest losers of all.

Oh, and also? Camaraderie and kisses are a rapists reward, and extraordinary abilities – far from being an opportunity for personal growth or improving the lot of humanity – should be reviled and feared at all costs. No one needs that sort of thing messing up their shit.

I’ll give you a moment to get your head around just HOW wrong we were about these books. It’s almost enough to make you think you weren’t reading what the author was writing. Or not writing.

If I’d known the Sookieverse was this fucked up, I never would have moved here.

PREACH IT!

A paranormal fantasy series populated by godless beings, entwined in moral conundrums that simply cannot exist in the real world is ripe for exploring The Big Questions. At various times Sookie has pondered the role of God in her world, reward and retribution after death, the existence of souls and the (im)morality of murder, to articulate just a few of the questions that have kept her up at night. As a reader who has spent a good deal of her life wrestling with organised religion, I’ve followed Sookie’s ongoing crisis of faith with interest over the course of the series.

I should have known our bags were packed for Jesus Camp when Sookie was born again in jail. And then she began talking like this:

“I didn’t know what would happen to my soul if I was turned into a vampire, and I didn’t want to risk it – especially since I’d done some pretty bad things in my time. I wanted some years to atone”.

“Though I was sure the part demon knew more than I did about the subject, I didn’t believe redemption was ever beyond the power of God”.

WELL, PRAISE HIS HOLY LIGHT.

If you’re going to sell me on a world of godless bloodsucking undead, barbaric weres, twisty fairies, telepaths, elves and shifters – and you’re also going insert a human religious fundamentalist group like the FOTS in there to keep things interesting – forgive me for thinking you’re using this juxtaposition to explore the scandalous idea that organised religion, and in particular religious fundamentalism, can be far more evil than any monster under the bed. The antics of the FOTS and the Newlins would seem to be saying something along these lines, no?

Perhaps that’s too hard? Too offensive? Screw dat, let’s march the protagonist’s eventual partner off to church at the eleventh hour (to improve his community standing, no less – but hell, as long as your arse is on that pew every week IT STILL COUNTS), while the protagonist herself rambles about redemption and the Power of God to ultimately tip the scales of divine justice in favour of her more questionable life choices. Because that would be FAR more interesting.

What is being implied here – that acts of moral worthiness occur only within the constructs of organised religion, and that redemption is only possible on its terms – offends me all the way down to my Catholic-schooled, atheist bone marrow.

Now I know there are people who think this way, and it’s a safe bet that many of you reading this would count yourselves among them. I’ve been on both sides of the religious fence, and I have no problem with people believing whatever they want to believe – so long as they keep it out of my face, out of my bedroom and out of my children’s secular education.

But you know what? Keep your Christian moralising OUT of my paranormal fantasy books while you’re at it.

WE’VE OFFICIALLY LOST THE PLOT

As a self confessed “pantser” Harris doesn’t tend to do much long term, detailed plotting of her character and story arcs. This has resulted in plenty of continuity errors and questionable plot developments in previous books – though none so glaring as some of the asshattery she supposes readers will happily swallow in this one.

The book opens with a nameless devil and a businessman making a deal. “Just Call Me Cope” has decided to sell his soul to the devil, and as is customary in this time honored transaction the devil agrees to grant Cope a wish. As one astute Amazon reviewer pointed out, this sounds like an awesome premise for a book – until it’s revealed that Cope used this wish to have the devil procure a magical fairy object for him. An object that can….wait for it, now…GRANT HIM A WISH!

HOW DOES THIS EVEN GET PAST AN EDITOR?

Let’s not start on the encore appearance of Claude as a villain (we took that trip in the LAST book, for those of you still playing at home), or the coup de grace of I-really-can’t-be-bothered-with-this-crap-today story telling – Eric’s agreement with Felipe and Freyda for Sookie’s “protection” after their divorce.

Felipe has proven repeatedly that he is a lying snake – just ask Horst, who felt the pointy end of Felipe’s bare faced lie to Eric in Deadlocked. Felipe has also proven repeatedly that agreements are only worth a lick to him until they aren’t – just ask Sookie how that favour he owed her since FDTW panned out; or even Victor, who was promised the world and then manipulated into a power struggle with Eric. Oops! You can’t ask Victor, because Victor ended up DEAD. Never mind all that. Felipe’s promise to Eric to leave Sookie alone will be honoured, because apparently a character’s documented past behaviour in the Sookieverse is no predictor of their future behaviour – not when pesky plot points require resolution in six pages or less. You should ask Eric all about that.

You know what might have made at least a modicum of sense? If Felipe had offered Sookie protection as the return on the favour he admitted he owed her five books earlier. You know, that favour WE NEVER HEARD ABOUT AGAIN.

Moving on to other asshattery, we come to the small matter of Sookie’s sudden inability to read Sam’s mind. At least twice over the course of the series, Sam has actively locked Sookie out of his head. This suggests not only that he knows when she’s rooting around in there, but also that he believes she can read him. That would be a fair assumption on Sam’s part, since Sookie effortlessly picks a fully formed, coherent thought directly out of his brain in the short story set after this novel, “If I Had a Hammer”.

And of course, the idea that Sookie could “not know and not care” whether magic was responsible for her falling in love with Sam, after spending five books railing against the blood bond because she was suspicious it had the very same effect – just beggars fucking belief.

Clearly, we were never meant to think about this too hard.

HAPPY ENOUGH EVER AFTER

And so it has come to this.

Most of us here have acknowledged since at least book eight that Sookie’s choice would eventually come down to Eric or Sam. Obviously I would prefer her to be with Sam over that other raping, lying, raping sack of shit who was thankfully never in with a chance anyway.

At least we were right about something.

Much has been said about the seemingly deliberate milking of the Eric Sookie relationship and the lack of appropriate build up to Sam over the last few weeks. I’m not going to sit here and throw a tantrum because my guy didn’t get the girl, and quite frankly, I’m sick to DEATH of being told that’s all I’m really pissed off about. Instead, I want to look at a couple of narrative turns late in the series. I hope it helps clarify for those who are labelling EL’s as entitled, crazy, tantrum-throwing two year olds just why so many people are upset about this book. Yeah, I know. I live in fucking hope.

I could have lived with this ending if two very simple editorial decisions had been made that might have mitigated at least some of the problems the majority of readers are crying foul over.

1. Sookie broke the blood bond she shared with Eric in Dead Reckoning after spending five books unsure whether it was the cause of her feelings for him. This was a crossroads in the narrative. This was the point Harris could have – and should have – started turning this ship, and moved all her chips in behind her HEA man. Eric should have been bust HERE – this was the time to start showing the reader why things were going to end differently. Instead Harris made a conscious decision, for reasons known only to her, to do the complete opposite. She continued to obfuscate her intentions by having Sookie realise she loved Eric “all on her own”, and she continued to draw the relationship out for another two books – throwing huge obstacles in its path while teasing resolution and loopholes the whole time. This only served to reaffirm the belief of readers that the author was leading Sookie and Eric to a final confrontation and resolution (common in this genre)…when all along, her intent was to leave them with nothing more than the literary equivalent of a wet fart.

You just can’t DO that. Well, apparently you can. But as the last few weeks have demonstrated, you can’t cry foul when your readers stage a mass revolt and start lining their kitty’s litter tray with their hardcovers. Shart, indeed.

and,

2. Small Town Wedding, the novella included in last year’s Sookie Stackhouse Companion, should have remained part of the Dead in the Family storyline as originally intended. This story took Sookie on a roadtrip to Texas with Sam to attend his brother’s wedding. She met his mother, and his brother. She bonded with his nieces and nephews. She slept in Sam’s childhood home. SHE LET SAM PRETEND SHE WAS HIS GIRLFRIEND, kissing him in front of his mother and playing along while Sam acted out every G rated domestic fantasy involving Sookie that he ever had. STW showed us what Sookie and Sam looked like as a couple.

With hindsight, I’d say this was a pretty fucking critical stepping stone towards readers accepting Sam as a better choice. Yet, this was deemed irrelevant enough to pull it from Dead in the Family (in favour of an extremely Eric-centric/Appius plot, the cynic in me hastens to add), to be sold as an “optional extra”. We didn’t even review it here, taking the author at her word that after the One Word Answer fiasco, plot points relevant to the main story arc would only be addressed in the main novels.

Whoever was responsible for this decision was clearly drunk. Or perhaps they were actually very smart. I can only speak for myself, but reading about the Sam/Sookie show in DITF, and then Sookie breaking the bond and second-guessing her feelings for Eric immediately afterwards in DR would have been enough to make THIS Eric fan reconsider Sam’s HEA prospects.

Maybe this Eric fan wouldn’t have remained quite as invested as she had been. Maybe she wouldn’t have shelled out her hard earned cash for many more books. And maybe a legion of Eric fans would have felt exactly the same way.

Things that make you go….hmmmm.

VIOLATION OF A VIKING

Recent weeks have seen loud howls of protest from readers about Eric being “out of character’. I’m really not sure where to begin with the handling of his character in Dead Ever After. I knew it was going to be bad before I read it, but nothing could have prepared me for the brutal way he was systematically butchered and sold off on the page.

There’s an intense disconnect between the Eric of the last two or three books, and the Eric in the earlier books in the series. I’ve always maintained that this was intentional, and that it was simply a consequence of Sookie’s increasing intimacy with him that allowed her to see him “up close and personal”. Unintentionally depicting a character “out of character” usually occurs when a writer becomes lazy, stops caring, or their editor falls asleep drunk in their chair for the duration of the entire creative process. While a case can certainly be made for ALL of the above considering this crapfest of a book, I’m not so sure that it applies to the character assassination in question.

There was something very calculated and deliberate in Harris’ depiction of Eric in this book. And I don’t for ONE second believe that she wrote this half asleep.

Every suitor who ever felt slighted by EvilEric got his pound of flesh. Bill got to break the news about Eric’s wedding going ahead, as payback for Eric outing him to Sookie on Sophie-Anne’s mission. Quinn had the pleasure of overseeing Eric’s arranged marriage ceremony after Eric had earlier banned him from his Area and by extension, from Sookie. And of course, Sam got “Eric’s woman” – even if it was by default. All three of them will presumably continue to be involved in Sookie’s life in one way or another, forever and ever. Cute, huh?

Eric on the other hand lost his business, his children, his wife, his position, his subordinates and most importantly, his autonomy – the one thing we were told over and over that he valued most. Lest we thought he’d been sufficiently punished for his evil doings, even worse was to come. I never, in a million years, thought we’d be forced to bear witness to the systematic, spiteful destruction of every good quality Eric possessed.

Punishing a character so thoroughly and decisively in the space of three hundred pages requires thought, planning and a shit ton of retconning. Not the sort of thing you bother devoting your energies to if you’re an author who’s feeling lazy or bored. A few starting points:

* Eric never so much as hinted that he thought Sookie had feelings for Sam over five books of being blood bonded to her. Now the bond is gone and everything Sookie ever wanted turned out to be under her nose the entire time she was bonded to Eric, we’re supposed to buy that Sookie’s use of the cluviel dor was his first tip off?

* Eric consistently said he wouldn’t turn Sookie against her will. Now we find out that was biding his time all along, until he could convince her to do it willingly. This isn’t especially inconsistent with his earlier dialogue in Dead and Gone: (“I won’t ever force you into subservience. And I will never turn you, since you don’t want it.”), but there was a complete absence of any attempt on his behalf to convince her to turn between DAG and DEA, even when the opportunity arose on at least two occasions in later books. Is it any wonder accusations of character assassination are flying now?

* Eric outed Bill to Sookie about his mission from the queen, and at the time Sookie placed the blame squarely where it belonged – with Bill. Now we are expected to swallow that Eric’s actions were a slight on “Sookie and Bill – The Couple”. And this from Sookie’s own mouth?

* Eric consistently stated that he had no choice in the arranged marriage under threat from Felipe, and because he was bound by the orders of his maker. At no time were we shown any evidence that Eric could choose NOT to go with Freyda, though Sookie kept stating it as fact. Further, we were given numerous clues that there would be a resolution to the marriage problem. We heard Eric tell Sookie “she (Freyda) won’t win”, and Bill suggesting to Sookie that someone else could take Eric’s place. There was no disclosure of Appius’ side of the contract given in the narrative – leaving open the glaring possibility that a loophole or solution could present itself from that direction. None of this was utilised in DEA; instead we are informed out of nowhere that Eric made a “choice”. By definition, a choice means that Eric had a number of alternatives. As a reader I would like to have been shown what those alternatives were, so that I might better understand the ‘choice’ he made.

* Niall told Sookie in Deadlocked that she “had to know” what Eric would do if he “knew she had [the] power” contained in the cluviel dor. According to Sookie, Eric failed this test; presumably because he didn’t fight for her after she used the cluviel dor on Sam. Given that he not once tried to take it from her by stealth or by force, and that Sookie did choose Sam over Eric when she used it, does it strike anyone else as more than a little unfair that somehow Eric is supposed to be an arsehole for not putting up a fight?

I could go on, but my head hurts. Three weeks is a long time to be bashing your head against a brick wall, yo.

If Harris’ intention was to make me hate Eric, she failed. Her hamfisted, eleventh hour attempt to force feed me the manipulative, self-serving jerk who has held residence in her head all along only succeeded in drawing attention to her biggest mistake: her vision of the character simply didn’t crystallize successfully on paper. Harris sees the Eric she’s written as having some redeeming traits, but feels that he is ultimately self-absorbed and unworthy of her protagonist. Yet somehow, a large proportion of her readers ended up viewing Eric as unquestionably flawed, but destined to prove himself worthy of her protagonist in the end.

Why this disconnect was actively milked over the duration of a lengthy series, before delivering an ending completely at odds with the conventions of the genre Harris claimed to be writing in is a question for another day. It will, I expect, be the subject of many “How Not To Write A Paranormal Series” night classes well into the foreseeable future.

It must be galling that even after throwing everything she had at Eric, all Harris managed to achieve was to make him even more sympathetic. I’ve seen plenty of pissed off Eric fans in recent weeks…strangely, none of them are pissed off at Eric.

THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN

As I bring this diatribe to a close I can’t help but reflect not only on Dead Ever After, but on the series as a whole. One word rears its head, time and time again.

Disappointment that the series was drawn out far longer than it should have been.

Disappointment that so many faithful, enthusiastic readers have been left feeling manipulated, exploited and unsatisfied.

Disappointment that so many bombs and plot threads ultimately amounted to nothing. So many opportunities squandered, so that the author’s original, (and it must be said) utterly BORING ending could prevail come what may. This must surely be the most ill-conceived, petulant act of literary hari-kari in recent memory.

And most of all, disappointment in Sookie. Ending her story this way after three books, or even after five might have been forgivable. But after thirteen books, a character like Sookie should bear the scars and triumphs of an epic journey. She should wear that shit like a badge of honor. She should embrace what makes her different; not settle for a mate who enables her to shun it. She should be comfortable in her own skin; not craving the acceptance of people who have ostracised her all her life. She should be willing to stand by the choices she’s made – not down on her knees, grovelling for forgiveness from a God who couldn’t care less whether she lived or died from the day she was born.

After thirteen books spent living, loving, fighting, bleeding and almost dying in an extraordinary world – Sookie Stackhouse deserved a less than ordinary ending.

And you know what else? If feeling that way makes me an entitled reader…

420 thoughts on “Dead On Arrival – A Review of Dead Ever After”

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Sookie bigoted? Still pals with Bill and Pam, getting kissed by two female vampires. She’s always been squeamish about being a vampire, and she’s never wanted to leave home. So, really, everything the same. THe story felt rushed and had too many characters. Aside from that a good read, especially for those of us who don’t really care who she winds up with.

I don’t understand why people keep bringing up that Sookie didn’t want to be a vampire. That was a given. That didn’t have to mean that she and Eric couldn’t still end it together – like almost every other vampire/human story, ffs.

I don’t understand why we were supposed to see this ending coming either, based solely on the fact Sookie didn’t want to become a vampire.

I’ve never, EVER said in a single post here in four years that Sookie had to turn in order for Eric to be the HEA. “Hybrid” pairings happen ALL the time in urban fantasy and PNR. Since I thought that was the genre I was reading – since the publisher and the author kept SAYING IT WAS – I assumed that the normal conventions of the genre would apply.

If you can’t suspend your disbelief long enough to buy into a vampire/human HEA, then STOP READING FANTASY BOOKS. Or stop WRITING them.
(Not directed at you obviously trarecar…just a general statement )

I’ve seen many negative reviews and comments from those who didn’t care who she ends up with who didn’t like the book for a lot of the same reasons I didn’t. Even people that liked the book seem to have many of the same criticisms.

In what way exactly was it a good read? There was no plot to speak of and the villain was predictable and used as such in the book that came before it. Gone was the Sookie that took matters into her own hands and got herself out of trouble with the aid of vampires. Where were all her so-called friends before in the previous 12 books? I keep hearing how Sam was always there for her and what I remember is a man who yelled at her like she was a child and berated her for the choices she made. Where was he when she was staked in Club Dead or tortured by Thing One and Thing Two. Where were all her friends? I rest my case on that score.

For someone who never wanted to leave her childhood home, she certainly told Eric that is what they should do in Deadlocked and he was the one who did want her to leave that said home. Yet, we are supposed to believe that he wanted her to be his mistress in Oklahoma? How are we supposed to believe that Eric and Sookie could not make it when he knew and accepted that she did not want to be a vampire? Every other paranormal story out there does it all the time, Black Dagger Brotherhood just for an example and they are stout in their belief that vamps should be with vamps.

To say I was disappointed in Dead Ever After is an understatement, but this site sums it up perfectly. I think we all deserve our money back on this one. Not just a terrible read, but I wonder if Charlaine ever wrote this herself…..

Thank you for your thoughts. I find myself unable to fathom how Harris thought she could destroy Eric’s character in only a few pages. It is an obvious insult to Eric lovers. I am so disappointed in Sookie. Vampires are bad, but she can accept money from her Fey relatives. Their behaviour puts some vampires to shame. Just don’t get it.
I choose to let myself think that eventually Eric will accept he escaped a trap. He will accept he is better off without her. Why keep fighting for someone who is so unworthy of your love.
Just a few quick thoughts before work. I am looking forward to hearing more of the reaction. Great review, SVB!

so that the author’s original, (and it must be said) utterly BORING ending
I could not agree more SVB,I was thinking about it last few days and I think it’s main reason why people feel cheated – after 13 books this ending just complete slap in face “so there, bitches” thank you for your review and this site

Excellent review SVB. There’s nothing quite like that feeling of discovering that all those books I read about Sookie and her foray into the world of vampire politics, their marriage contracts and ceremonies, clans and summits, and their struggles for acceptance in human society that mirrored the protagonist’s own struggle for acceptance, were all just filler in the Sookie and Sam show. But then if I’d known that, I certainly wouldn’t have bought all those books to find out how this struggle would end – not with a bang that tied the series together, but with the whimper of a… seal?

Ditto to all of the above seal “arf-ing” I am still reeling in disappointment over Sookie’s choices – not even her dismissal of Eric in favor of Sam as much as her denial of what a powerful entity she herself could have become. This review and subsequent comments are phenomenally well written, perfectly stated and express my sentiments exactly, SVB, krtmd and Serena. I imagine CH sitting back smugly, laughing at the mere concept of introspective literary analysis re: her final installment and hearing the cash register “cha-chings” in her brain. I am disappointed beyond belief in her blatant stunting of Sookie’s growth. Forget being an Eric fan, or where he ends up in OKC. He would have every right to regret his former wife’s lack of confidence and bravery in herself at this terrible end. I know I expected more from her, and so did Eric. I wish her the best frying pickles. That’s about all one can expect from now on.

Im only on book 3 of the series and have watched all the seasons of True Blood. I understand in the show they are not following the books very close, But after reading ALL the reviews from multiple ppl and websites, I WILL NOT buy another book just to lead up to a total disappointment.Thanks for this awesome review, its helped a lot and has saved me money on continuing to buying 7 more books!!!

This is a great review! Everything you said, spot on.
I don’t think I could put into words quite how I feel about this ending, but you’ve pretty much done it for me. I’m disappointed that after everything that happened, especially with FoC and in fighting with people who questioned the rights of all the supes, INCLUDING vampires, our protagonist was really that narrow minded in the end.
I guess with hindsight Sam makes sense, and I’m in the frame of mind that I could have accepted it… If she hadn’t completely disregarded the love she explicitly said she had for Eric in such a short time for him… Because that makes sense.

*Sigh* Never mind. One thing I can take from this is that I still don’t hate or blame Eric. She couldn’t take that away from me

I agree with 99.9% of everything you’ve said. WHERE IS THE LIE HERE? That’s right, there ain’t none. I also must be fucking illiterate despite being the most overeducated undergrad in the history of college. I am suffering from Read-It-Wrongivitis right along with you. I had a whole 2 pages typed up in response to this, but it’s not worth posting when a good old “PREACH.” will suffice.

I would like to say this, though. I’m also sick to death of the “deranged fangirls who love Eric” argument. Hell yes, I love Eric. I had no real issue with her ending up with Sam and expected it, though I also expected that there would be some actual, you know, lead-up to it. I would have legitimately been OK with her ending up with anyone in the books other than the friendly neighborhood rapist. But most of the arguments I have seen as to what went wrong have been logical or at least accepting of the HEA while pointing out the plot issues. I’m assuming these supposed death threats and suicide threats are being made not in the public sphere… yet people keep referencing them like they are happening every other comment.

There is no doubt she and Mr. Ball talked extensively about this, he was the one who personally asked her not to off Bill when she was going to do so. She sold the rights to her characters and was amazed and horrified to see the extreme popularity of the Eric character, he had already been very popular in the books before the show, but now it just exploded. She grew very jealous of this, beings as she wrote the heroine using herself as the template. We were used to line her pockets, naturally we chose to do this, based on what she fed us, Sookie and Eric. She is now acting the Drama Queen, the only threats made against her are against her bank account, love that thousands cancelled their order

Exactly!! For CH, Eric was like the the new friend you introduce to everyone,who then becomes more popular than the introducer.. HaHa! then jealousy and malice ensues.When she realized he became the more popular and sought after character she proceeded to destroy and malign his character. Just like high-school.

Except that makes no sense at all considering that AB is a major, self proclaimed Bill/Stephen Moyer lover who gave some of book Eric’s best part’s to Bill. Alexander Skarsgard IS well cast as Eric as far as I am concerned, BUT – I think the True Blood show does a terrible injustice to his character and I don’t see how watching the show would turn one into an Eric fan of the books, they are very different. I can barely watch the show, it was fun and campy the first two seasons and has gone downhill since. If anything, the show would have brought on legions of Bill and Alcide lovers as they get portrayed far better on the show than in the books, and get much more ‘screen time’. The only thing we know for a fact about True Blood that influenced the books was Bill not being killed off like CH had originally planned – too many Bill fans from TB. Also, how many young kids watch True Blood? All the actors are in their 30′s and 40′s, it is not a teen show like Twilight or whatever. I have seen this written dozens of times, too, all these crazy teenagers who love True Blood are the ones that don’t like the book ending. Sorry…nice way to try to discount the majority of your readers, that over 50% that are disappointed in DEA, by writing them all off as stupid young kids who watch too much t.v., but you have us pegged all wrong. It’s the college educated, literature loving, thinking adults who all just had the wool pulled over their eyes and thought we were reading something deeper, more nuanced and intelligent than it was. Lesson learned – most of us won’t be fooled again – that was a large percentage of your book buying public that you wrote off so cruelly (on paper and otherwise), Mrs. Harris.

great review, I’ve been so, so frustrated and scratching my head … then a writer uses a genre (paranormal romance) knowing full well what kind of audience would attract, sold it countless times as a story about tolerance and resilience, but guess what? was exactly the opposite! the amount of contempt she has demonstrated in this book for all those readers who deliberately lured her, just makes me more angry than anything she has done to the characters of Eric and Sookie, laziness to even try to write a good book while passing time talking about mundane things in this book (it’s ok a little mundane things in books, but not when it is used to not bother writing anything more complex), this is the last book in a series of 13 years! was pathetic and sad. one thing puzzles me … then she will continue to write for this audience? “Ignorant” and “stupid”, will continue to write for this literary fangbangers? RIIIIGHT.
Not in my pocket, never more money, the end to be called an idiot.
career hara kiri without a doubt!
and before anyone tell me that she will still have readers, I say if these readers will follow her in a book that was not about supernatural, if you think this is so negligible? * Scratching my head *.
fangbanger literary proudly!

Ugh, that passage in the book really was so hamfisted. Oh yeah Charlaine, I got the message. Those who read your books who were interested in the vampires (The Southern Vampire Mysteries, remember???) are “literary fangbangers”. You know, you could have just said that in your dedication and left out Harp altogether.

Hear, hear SVB, excellent review. And you are right I don’t hate Eric even though that’s the idea, Ive ended up with a strong dislike for the protagonist, I’d hoped she’d end up with my suitor of choice, but mostly I’d hoped she’d find her place in the world with someone who she loved and who loved her, be it Eric, Sam or even Quinn.

You know I’m surprised I passed my degree, my masters my Phd, because as you have said I clearly am not able to extract information from text.
I have heard of STW but refused to buy a book by an author when hardly any of the book is written by said author, so I don’t know this story and I’m pretty pissed that its important to the plot of the books, you know the things that major events.

So I’m working hard to repress my memories of this book and am moving on to other more worthy reading material, stuff that what you read is actually what happens and I don’t need to read irrelevant books to pick up future plots.

I did read all of the short stories, including STW (yup – SUCKER!) and while it did give some major time to Sam and Sookie together, I thought it made Sam look like a big jerk. He coerced Sookie into going to a family wedding with him out of town even though she had a boyfriend (whom she said she loved) and he intentionally did not tell his own girlfriend he was bringing her or ask her to come because he was embarrassed of her – nice. He bragged about taking Sookie on a supe internet board, which endangered her life. He made unwanted and awkward advances towards Sookie knowing they both were otherwise attached. And he just came across as manipulative and rather weak charactered, IMO. I know everyone has always thought of Sam as such a great best friend, but honestly I think between his shifty (ha) behavior in STW and the Maenad, those were two strikes against him that no one ever really acknowledged as being that bad (including the author)…yet we are constantly told how bad Eric is when he seems to be to have (until his character was assassinated at the end) be the only upstanding suitor who didn’t do anything major against suitor, and supported her more than all the others. A disconnect here…

Sorry, that last sentence got jumbled! Meant to say:
…yet we are constantly told how bad Eric is when he seems to be (until his character was assassinated at the end) the only upstanding suitor who didn’t do anything major against Sookie, and beyond that he supported her more than all the others. Communication problems, yes, but he didn’t date people that tried to kill her like Sam and Alcide did, at least! A disconnect here…

But the funniest (or saddest) thing is, even this supposed character assassination didn’t really work. At all, actually.

The whole marriage contract thing is so under-written that we have no insight into what REALLY went down with Felipe and Freyda: we only have a few bits and pieces from Bill, Eric’s words and what little Sookie sees. And her highlyunbiased views of course LOL..

So why not put all this stuff in the damn text so that we can see for ourselves how Eric chose what’s best for him (what does that even mean) and he actually had a choice to stay and be with Sookie and not marry Freyda (while remaining alive and keeping Sookie free/alive)but preferred a more selfish alternative(?).
Because I’d like to know that from the book, rather than being TOLD by CH…

I think if Eric wanted to go, he would have left as soon as he found out about the contract. I think the choice that might be being referred to is go or everyone you care about will suffer. I do not really consider this a choice, but I guess Harris does.

I agree with you, I would also like to know what Harris if referring to. I was just trying to think how she would. I believe she thinks she is clear in her writing, and by having Eric call it an opportunity, he is indicating he has a choice. We all know that really isn’t true. Or..Maybe Harris really doesn’t know what he could have done because she lost that post-it.

But the funniest (or saddest) thing is, even this supposed character assassination didn’t really work. At all, actually.

The whole marriage contract thing is so under-written that we have no insight into what REALLY went down with Felipe and Freyda: we only have a few bits and pieces from Bill, Eric’s words and what little Sookie sees. And her highly unbiased views of course LOL..

So why not put all this stuff in the damn text so that we can see for ourselves how Eric chose what’s best for him (what does that even mean) and he actually had a choice to stay and be with Sookie and not marry Freyda (while remaining alive and keeping Sookie free/alive)but preferred a more selfish alternative(?).
Because I’d like to know that from the book, rather than being TOLD by CH…

Oh SVB, thank you for reading the book…so I don’t have to. And thank you for another great review — it was well worth the wait. [and i will add a special shout out for the perfect use of the Dave Grohl WTFW gif] Thanks again. <3

THIS. I stopped reading 2 books ago. I put Dead Reckoning on the shelf and told myself I wouldn’t read any more or buy the last book until the reviews for it were in. Guess it was the right thing to do.

“If I’d known the Sookieverse was this fucked up, I never would have moved here.”

Many days I’m still wanting to punch myself for picking up the books in the first place. In the end it was worth it b/c it led me to other authors/books that I love, however, my experience in the sookieverse still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

“…shit ton of retoconning…” YEP!
“Much has been said about the seemingly deliberate milking of the Eric Sookie relationship”

Oh, I don’t think enough has been said. IMO, this was very much a calculated move.

Also, I was raised Christian and I have a favorable view of religion in general. However, my view of religion and christianity is significantly different than that of the author and that is another factor (among others) that really made these books a bad fit for me as a reader.

Bravo SVB! Standing O! It still baffles my mind how a series could get this bad. Sure, there were continuity issues galore but this book it was worse. This remark by CH on her site should have been considered a hint.

“Eric is unfortunate in that people want to take him down a peg…including his own Maker”.
Charlaine Harris, 2013.

What can I say really? Except perfect fucking review, and Grohl and Cleese were the cherries on top. I have to say your review (and a couple of others) have brought me a sense of closure. And made me realize I wasn’t batshit crazy for NOT falling all over myself saying “PERFECT ending for Sookie!” (those GENUINE 5 star Amazon reviews who have so clearly read the book *sarcasm* )

Thank you. Thank you. For never making all of us “crazy” people full of “virulent hatred” feel alone

But sure, take Pam’s blood to heal.
Have Pam and Karin be your body disposal service.
Enjoy the “watcher in the woods” there to protect you.
Enjoy the freedom to live your life – thanks to a vampire’s “wish list” in your favor, not his own, – whilst said vampire endures an extra hundred years of subservience to ensure your safety.
Just who is using who?

Harris had the perfect opportunity to use already established characters, with already established motivations in DEA. Felipe and Freyda. Hello?
What went on behind closed doors in the negotiations? What exactly is FDC gaining here?
Why was Eric’s voice hoarse? Why did Thalia go with Eric? What was ALO’s part of the bargain he didn’t live to enjoy? What was all that talk about Clans and territories and vampire political strategy for? JUST so Eric could say “Oklahoma!?”
Instead we got Cope, Tyrese and Newlin and Glassport – all humans out to kill Sookie. *YAWN*
Been there, done that.
But wait! Vampires are the evil ones, remember?
*Slams the door shut in 6 pages or so*

How many times is Niall going to close the portal FOR GOOD?
“And just like that all the Fae were gone from America.” – DL
Wait…just kidding. Queue Claude – AGAIN. *facepalm*
And why didn’t Claude turn to “Fairy Dust” upon his demise like was previously established in the series? Who cares right? Wouldn’t want to come off as an entitled reader who actually pays attention to detail. FFS!

When the books took a turn from romantic angst to Christian angst?
Color me done. We were “Riced.” *snort*

I could go on, and on, and on…but what’s the fucking point?
I am completely turned off from this series to the point that I will never read these books again, even the ones I enjoyed from earlier in the series. I can’t re-read these books knowing the fuckery that awaits.

And to go one better, CH has turned me off from ever “shipping” a fictional couple, protagonist, or antagonist with invested emotion again. I won’t do it. I can’t.

I read a lot. ALOT. 2, sometimes 3 book a week. It’s my habit, my vice, my getaway.
It’s an expensive habit. A habit that will continue, but one that will never see Harris getting another dime from me.
“Charlaine, I abjure you from my wallet.” – wrote one reviewer.
I couldn’t agree more.

SVB – we’ve been in this together from the start. I love you. Peace out. xo

***************************************************************************
“And to go one better, CH has turned me off from ever “shipping” a fictional couple, protagonist, or antagonist with invested emotion again. I won’t do it. I can’t.”
***************************************************************************

Indeed. I’ve already found myself guarded in my reading of other [non-CH] stories. I will for about 5 seconds get that super excited feeling…then the cold splash of reality hits me when I remember that the world I’m visiting has a “maker” and that bitch can do whatever he/she pleases. It’s sad, really. I feel like I’m dating again after being cheated on by my first love. Fuck, man.

“How many times is Niall going to close the portal FOR GOOD?”
LOL. To give Niall a break – he technically never did close all the portals – just all of them except for the ones around Sookie’s house. Such luv!

If I were Sookie I’d put some iron chairs/table/cage around that rose bush that the letter grew on. Oh, and how DID Claude get through that gate ( big enough for a letter, growing on a rose)when the one Sookie shoved Sandra through was too small for him to climb in?

PERFECT REVIEW. I have been spoiled and know the end of the series and refuse to pay any money to read what she’s shoving down her fans throats. The fact that she obviously wrote 6 pages of Fuck You to those fans she detests (she generalizes Eric Lovers with the few who were more vocal to her)confirms for me that she knew what she was doing when she did her double 360 turns at the end of the series. I remember reading the Wedding story and the companion book with those emails exchanged between Eric and Bill and wondering what was the reason she seems to elevate the one character who hurt and changed Sookie forever and the one who always showed how he cared and accepted her for who she is. IMO, if she was so freaking tired of the series, then she should have ended it 3 books ago. Neither she nor her editor was putting a stop to the notions that rose from the written word because THEY KNEW what was selling those books was the interactions of Eric and Sookie and wanting to know how it would end. Did she have someone else write this one or did someone else write the others because it does not make any sense whatsoever. I laugh at the fact that she had her author friends come to her rescue posting at different sites and wonder, did they themselves read this fuckery?… because if they did, they would understand why the fandom is reacting this way. No amount of Vaseline after that shove will take out the sting…what is done is done… unless you are Bill…then rape is not rape.
Personally, after a while, I just wanted Eric, who seemed to have been the second protagonists have a satisfactory ending to his story. I was tired of Sookies’ waffling; was it the blood bond, it wasn’t the blood bond, hating Bill then sanctifying him… and the fact that as you so eloquently explained, crucified Eric with the opposite of all he had accomplished or held dear, in six pages, well… it will take some time for me to get over the ANGER, DISAPPOINTMENT, and taking this affront PERSONALLY since I have like many invested money and time to the story she was directing us to, and then shifted at the finish line.
Lastly, I do want to thank you and your team for all the time and effort put into this blog, which kept us sane while waiting between books and while watching what we thought was treachery of the story by TB and AB… laughable now, isn’t it since the creator really was the Butler in this mystery story. …oops sorry, Paranormal/Romance…..WHATEVER!!!

I think CH will find this controversy will follow her for the rest of her career. No matter what she does in the future, she will always be known as the woman who “created” TB and Sookie Stackhouse and angered a significant portion of her fandom as a result.

Thank you for this awesome review. I also hate Sookie for always forgiving Bill and considering sex with him. Really? Sex with her rapist? She is one crazy woman after all with nothing to make me care about her other than the fact Eric did.

Fantastic review, SVB! I followed your blog and discussions for the last 2 years or more (after I first discovered it), but I rarely if ever post. I read everyone’s comments here, since DEA content started being known. I also read a lot of the amazon’s and other site’s reviews and discussion threads, but your review is among the best, and is exactly how I feel about the series and this book now.

It is unfortunate that the author chose these as endings for Sookie and Eric. Perhaps she reinforced her decision for these by considering them a big “twist” in their character development, and, even though she anticipated correctly that some fans will be disappointed, she banked on the fact that even if the book will turn out to be weak, a week book will create controversy, and controversy sells, too, to some degree.

I guess I am trying to rationalize why, as a writer, she’d choose such an ending for the two main characters (for me Eric became a main character from book 3 on), essentially making her heroine into someone readers may despise?! Why would Eric, a “man” of the world, would choose to stay with Sookie, the small-minded woman she became in the last book?!

Thank you for this. I thought I was done with it all, but this was the closure I needed. Excellently done, and intelligently thought out. Brava!!

I’ll always have “my” Eric (though I’ll never be able to revisit him in any of the books, just the Eric I have in my memories). And I’ll always have the great friends I’ve made through SVB. And all the wonderful things those friends have introduced me to. Nothing can take any of that away from me.

AMEN SVB!You nailed every single issue I found wrong and personally insulting (e.g. her calculated move to hurt part of her fandom)in this book and you expressed in a way I never could. Thank you. I wish the author would read this and hang hear head in shame.

I don’t understand why y’all so shocked about this ending. It was pretty clear to me that Sookie will never be with Eric or any other vampire because in every single interview Harris said that she would never be with a vampire. Sookie is, to an extent, an extention of her.

Also the only way for Sookie to be with Eric is, as stated in the book, for her to be his secret whore or be made a vampire. From Eric’s point of view, why would he sacrifice an excellent opportunity only to stay for a few years with a waitress, until she’s too old for him even if he loves her so very much? That is why, for me, it makes sense that he thought he had no choice.

And finally, Harris has always written the books with weird mistakes and continuity issues. They were always annoying and you only pick up on that now? Everything was only to be expected.

Thank you for the clarification. Were these CH interviews in the actual story line? Because that is what I was reading — THE STORY. I didn’t know I was supposed to become a groupie of the author to glean clues to her story.

Umm… did you actually bother reading the whole review? o.O You, like so many others, touched upon 1/100th of the problem…. there is a WHOLE list up there. Not just the Eric thing. I don’t think I’ve heard Eric mentioned so much by NON Eric fans in the entire ten years I’ve been reading these.

“It was pretty clear to me that Sookie will never be with Eric or any other vampire because in every single interview Harris said that she would never be with a vampire”

Why does that mean she can’t be in a LTR/marriage with a vampire?

“From Eric’s point of view, why would he sacrifice an excellent opportunity only to stay for a few years with a waitress, until she’s too old for him even if he loves her so very much?”

Um….Eric already risked his life multiple times for sookie (forming the blood bond, marrying her, defending her in the Fairy war). Why is it hard to believe that he would stay with her until she was old or that that would not be worth foregoing the “opportunity” of going to OK. Furthermore, that “opportunity” was not an choice. It was an order. As SVB pointed out-

“Eric on the other hand lost his business, his children, his wife, his position, his subordinates and most importantly, his autonomy – the one thing we were told over and over that he valued”

He’s a consort. Not a king or sheriff(with autonomy garnered from the efforts he’s made previously). His “power” derives from what Freyda is willing to allow him. His “authority” is not over people he has formed relationships with but over Freyda’s subordinates. He does not have power or autonomy. Why go to that for any other reason than that he can try to negotiate security for the woman he loves….A position I might add that put him at a disadvantage during the negotiation process.

Amen northmanfan. She said Sookie wouldn’t be a vampire, not that she wouldn’t share her life with one.

And there was certainly an expectation that it was possible, given that the books discussed how the vampires of CH’s world were lobbying for the right to marry humans. I’m not saying that would have worked for Sookie and Eric, but it was certainly held up as a possibility – and something vampires were said to want in the Sookieverse. Why would they need that, if the only relationship possibility was for vampire to be with vampire?

But yeah, to the original poster “Pam” – let’s see your proof of all the times CH said Sookie wouldn’t be “with a vampire”. We’ll wait.

Don’t ya’ll pay attention? PAY ATTENTION: It is not who she ended up with, it is the HOW and the WHY of it. Sookie said she did not want to be a vampire, not that she did not want to be with one. She did want to be with one, she even wanted to leave her home to be with Eric. We have always picked up on the continuity but we are not the ones who gave her a hard time about it. Why? Because we thought she taking us to the place she had been leading us. She made us think it was Eric and I personally don’t get how no one saw that. She only had to build up Sam a bit more and let go of the great Eric Sookie love but she instead milked it for all it was worth. I don’t personally care that she MIGHT end up with Sam but she did not have to destroy everything Sookie became and destroy Eric in the process.

*****************************************************************
“It was pretty clear to me that Sookie will never be with Eric or any other vampire because in every single interview Harris said that she would never be with a vampire. Sookie is, to an extent, an extention of her.”
*****************************************************************

I believe Pam is saying that CH has said that CH would never be with a vampire and that Sookie is an extension of CH.

With that being said, WE SHOULDN’T HAVE TO DEPEND ON THE INTERVIEWS WITH THE WRITER TO UNDERSTAND THE STORY. Sorry, I’m not shouting at anyone in particular…I’M JUST SHOUTING TO MAKE MYSELF FEEL BETTER.

This also doesn’t make sense to me. Why go to the trouble of the negotiation for her safety only to risk that safety by having her as a mistress? It would seem to negate what Eric was trying to accomplish in the first place.

awesome review, SVB.
Love this line: “I’ve seen plenty of pissed off Eric fans in recent weeks…strangely, none of them are pissed off at Eric”.
I have read here for a couple of years now and I believe we were reading the same book. I don’t know what the hell happened, but I’m not re-reading this series (again) to find out. Thankfully, I now realize there are better book choices for me. I feel like I have been to a funeral of sorts. Thank you for this wonderful website.

OMG that kinda nailed it for me. I’ve been trying to word how I feel in various reviews I’ve placed on different sites…and you did it. Funeral. That’s the word. I’ve been feeling like this whole series has ended in a funeral. Sadness, anger, mourning, tears, blame…you name it, I’ve felt it. I know there are stages to grief…I guess I’m still in the anger faze *sigh*

Good luck with your 5 stages of grief, Maggie. Every time I think I’m over it, I think of something else she left unanswered or mislead me about and I get pissed all over again. I’m grateful for the spoilers, because I was so excited about the last book I probably would have cried out of sheer frustration if I had not been prepared for this catastrophe of a conclusion. So she killed my love for the series. You know it’s a bad book when you not only hate it but it makes you begin to hate all of the preceding books (some that you absolutely loved at one time).

Great Review – I came to SVM from TrueBlood HBO and now I understand why AB went of the rails on the crazy train. At least they have the balls to say they kept Lafayette because of how wildly popular the character got.

You hit the nail on the head on the plot issues many have mentioned. I had a feeling after she said Sookie would never be a vampire that Sam, Quinn or a stranger Shifter Sup would be her HEA.

I didn’t buy the companions either but lucked out on one at the library. After “One Word Answer” I had a feeling that all of the side stories would actually have relevance to Sookieverse.

I actually haven’t read the last 2 books (1 friend posted about it and this one the German leak) shameful action in fandom I know.

Your blog post has sealed the deal that I may read it when it hits the $1 bin at the used store.

I feel that I owe Harris something in that her books introduced me to an entire new genre. I hadn’t read a “romance” since high school, and that was a very long time ago.

But as I read through the Sookie Series (I never read the last one, and don’t plan to read this one) I couldn’t help but note that the writing worsened with each book. Meanwhile, I discovered writers like J.R. Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, Kelley Armstrong, Ilona Andrews, etc., who write circles around Ms. Harris.

For the impetus to expand my reading, I thank Ms. Harris. I also feel that I have grown beyond the type of book that attempts to promote propaganda in the guise of plot. It didn’t work for Ayn Rand, it doesn’t work for Ms. Harris.

To be honest, I have long suspected that Sam would end up the “HEA” in the sense of “Settling for Ever After.” Everything you’ve said in your review about tolerance (and the rest of the review for that matter) is dead on. Ultimately, I think the author is a coward. Her personal reaction to trauma has been to crawl to the safety of her childhood, to cling to the false traditions of her youth, and this shows in her writing.

Wonderful review, SVB – the one I have been waiting on the whole time, and you nailed it.

Not only are we pissed about how we were led by the nose (*cough* pocketbook!) to think E/S was the ending, we are in grief for so much of the fun that could have been had on this site with all the cool people we’ve met on the way. I’m going to miss coming here.

I’d like to add that I think a lot of these people like Pam above who think it was SO OBVIOUS are projecting their value system or lives on Sookie. I think that those who loved this last book and thought it was the most realistic ending must not really read much PNR, or UF. Because it was not obvious at all. Even if it was a straight up romance, that ending doesn’t make any damn sense.

Thank you for another amazing review! And as usual, I agree with ya 100%
This series is nothing more than Christian Fiction In-Disguise. WHAT NERVE THIS AUTHOR HAS, I tell ya! *head desk* THIS series was NEVER/HAS been tagged Christian Fiction but it clearly IS and that’s SO wrong on too many levels. I DESPISE when authors do this SHIT! THIS is what has me the most upset about this series and then what she did to Eric. She strung us along with the E/S pairing (ya know, $ wise because THAT is such Christian thing to do wouldn’t ya know)and did not tag this series appropriately as Paranormal Christian Fiction! Talk about insulting your readers and playing them TWICE! It’s now wonder why most readers and I are up in arms over this. And Sookie, I’m so over you. I’m DONE. Totally. Over. It. Forever. And. Ever. CH you can count yourself into that equation also. I really feel the total fool for ever rooting for these chicks in the first place. At this point in time that is an understatement. I can not stand by her at all anymore. I still love Eric & Pam. I’m still rooting for them.
Always will. What an EPIC FAILURE CH!

Thank you SVB and Mod’s for the best Sookieverse blog there is and ever will be.
It’s been a helluva ride and the only solace I’m taking from this fuckery is all the amazing people I’ve met here a long the way.

I think it’s actually anti-Christian as it promotes not redemption, but nihilism.

Christianity is about self-sacrifice and using one’s gifts for others, even at great personal cost. (take up one’s cross daily to follow Jesus) Sookie rejects this idea. In Christianity, the concept hiddenness is at it’s core one of sin. Biblical love perseveres in the midst of adversity and challenges – it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. The only one who comes close to embodying this Eric – definitely not Sookie.

There is no redemption offered in the series.

Even Christian fiction isn’t this badly written. Still- this is not a Christian message at all. It’s ending with the same kind of legalism of The Fellowship of the Sun – if in a watered down form (which, to me is even more deceiving and insidious).

If I wanted to read ANYTHING about Christianity then I would buy IT. Period. And I know all about what your religion is all about. I grew up in an devote Christian family that would not miss one day cramming that crap down my throat. Just like what CH just DID. From a Christian private school, to bible studies, and church daily. Thank you very much. So, I do know your religion unfortunately inside and out. And I still can’t believe I’m debating this over a Paranormal series! WTF?! *bangs head*

I think both of you are right Deanna and Auntkrazy. CH try to forcefeed us her christian value but it’s twisted. I’m offended by what she thinks of being a christian is. I don’t begrudge Sookie for trying to be a better Christian but we read her mind and it contradicts with those value. Didn’t they teach us in Bible class not to cast the first stone? Charity is very important too, none of that present in this Sookie in my opinion. She’s very judgemental. I’m surprise to hear that she wants Sam to go to church to help Sam’s standing in the community. Comming from a community where christians are a minority and we are continually have to fight even our right to pratice our religion, this type of christian interpretation disturb me greatly. Eric is right in DR, Sookie is a hypocrite and I really, really dislike this Sookie. I also can’t believe we discuss this in Paranormal series DeAnna. I always thought that you should always strive to be a better person no matter what your belief is.

Christians are not the minority in the U.S. nor do you have to fight very hard for your rights. I’m a Pagan, if you want to talk about minority religions and rights, ask me, or a Jew,or a Hindu, or a Muslim. Other than that, I agree with your sentiments about CH’s forcefed religious nonsense. Here’s the latest Pew Research Poll with statistics and findings for each religion. The librarian in me cannot let you go on without knowing the actual stats:http://religions.pewforum.org/reports/

I am a minority where I come from, my parents were pagans too. I guess i’m just saying that some people hiding behind religion and their interpretation to cover their own flaw and forcing your belief on someone else never good.

cw: “CH try to forcefeed us her christian value but it’s twisted. I’m offended by what she thinks of being a christian is.”

THIS, exactly. It is an equal opportunity offence, both against those who did not expect a ‘christian’ plot, and those who know it wasn’t really a Christian plot.

cw: “I’m surprise to hear that she wants Sam to go to church to help Sam’s standing in the community.”

This is but one example of why it is not truly Christian. What’s the saying, that sitting in a church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car? Warming a pew for advancement is not Christian. CH’s view of Christianity is warped and offensive.

It’s a particular affect of our supposedly educated times that weak-minded people hide behind religion &/or food. I just wish I could see the look on her face when she realises it’s all just dirt and worms. That woman is coronary material.

I kneel at your feet in awe, because you’ve successfully communicated EVERY problem I’ve had with this book. This book turned me into a foul mouthed sailor, and the only response I could come up with to explain my thoughts were to spit back a quote from the offending book right back at the author, “Fuck you, and the horse you rode in on.” Your review is PURE BRILLIANCE, and will forever be the review I will point at and say, “That’s exactly what is in my heart about this book.” Thank you for verbalizing the assault that Charliane laid on us.

Wonderful review SVB ! You nailed it (but then, you always do and I love you for summing it up so well).

I was raised to be open minded and respectful to all POV’s, but the way CH cast aside her message of tolerance, only to replace it by one of bigotry is utterly offensive to the secular humanist I consider myself to be. The fact that she hid her real intent in order to string us along (IMO for monetary gain) in a way only a true hypocrite can ads insult to injury, especially considering the number of people that got hurt because of it. I don’t even want to mention the way she’s trying to whitewash rape and abuse, even now that the book is published, seemingly without a clue about how wrong, insulting and hurtful this is (but then again, maybe she knows exactly what she’s doing and actually enjoys teaching a lesson to those pesky readers that she considers inferior, which would make it even worse) – how terribly depressing.

Another huge disappointment, so far mentioned by few (but of course you caught it SVB), are all the open plots that ultimately lead nowhere. I had feared this might happen ever since CH said that she liked the way Lost ended, but I decided to trust her, and what a mistake that turned out to be. But maybe, as others have mentioned, we all overestimated her and she’s just not that deep.

What a shame though for all the missed opportunities.
The buildup of the first 12 book had the potential to yield a truly memorable finale.

But hey, she won’t win.
Despite all her affords, we will always love Eric, and I can only feel pity (not hatred) for the place she left Sookie (but what a waist of opportunities). At least we found out who the real devious instigator was (although it’s a bit of a cheat if it turns out to be the author herself, instead of one of the characters).

It’s amazing how people see things differently. I thought all 13 books were leading up to Sookie ending up with Sam. I saw it from book 1. If you really go through and re-read the books you can see all the little signs. Plus did anyone really expect Sookie to leave Bon Temps? For me I saw Sookie wanting to belong to her community and live a normal life that she didn’t feel she could have because of her telepathy. Remember in Club Dead when she was making breakfast for Alcide and she said something about how this is how it’s suppose to be. She couldn’t have that normal life she was raised to want with a vampire.

Bless your heart. No, not everyone saw Sookie’s HEA as “fitting in” in BT where, at the beginning of the series, everyone thought she was “Crazy Sookie”. I don’t know anyone who could have imagined having slappy seal sex in Sam’s double-wide was going to be Sookie’s future.

If you re-read the last book, Deadlocked, Sookie’s own thoughts show that she loves Eric desperately and Sam is her friend and boss.

DEA is a crappy mystery, a crappy romance and a crappy fantasy. Crap-crap-crappy.

Then you are in the minority. I’m happy for you, but really there’s no need to be smug about it, since the vast majority of the readers of this series did NOT expect this. We are not less literate than you, or blind to all the signs of impending Sam-ness. CH was very careful to keep ALL the suitors at least somewhat in the running as long as she possibly could. She was even happily stringing the Bill fans along to the bitter end. And she could have ended it with Sookie and Quinn and sure enough there would be all those little signs “if you looked for it”. Hindsight is amazing you know. For every “little sign” leading to Sam, I can easily show you just as many and probably more leading to Eric.

As for Sookie leaving Bon Temps or having an unconventional lifestyle, CH said OVER AND OVER that Sookie would not have a conventional HEA. Hmm, what did she end up with? Finding happiness with the local guy, going to church and staying far away from all those icky Supes. Excuse us for actually believing CH’s lying mouth.

CH deliberately kept Eric in the forefront because he sold more books. If she had broken them up when Sookie broke the bond, the logical place to end it, she knew damn well a huge portion of her reader base would not be buying the rest of the books. Pretending that CH made it obvious it would be Sam all along is just hogwash. She did her best to make him the dark horse, and did such a great job that Sam seems like an incredibly lame excuse for a HEA. Again, it’s nice that you were one of the few not unpleasantly surprised but you could have a little empathy for the rest of us.

I am glad you saw it coming but I really don’t see how because to me ‘hints’ don’t do it for me. I want proof, I want to see it in the writing and that did not happen. If she wanted people to believe in a Sam HEA then she should have built him up like she did Eric. What did we really know about Sam? Nothing, we and Sookie did not even know where he was from or if he had brothers and sisters. This was nothing but an 11th hour change.

I never felt Sookie had to leave Bon Temps to have a long term relationship/marriage with Eric (or any vampire).

“She couldn’t have that normal life she was raised to want with a vampire.”

She and her partner could have made their own “normal” and it would not have had to be that fundamentally different than conventional “normal.” Again, for me the narrative did not rule out the possibility of a fulfilling relationship for Sookie with a vampire. Also, again, imo it goes back to basically “milking the sookie/eric relationship” as long as possible.

krtmd- Thank you for being respectful. I’m sorry you weren’t happy with the ending.

northmanfan- I just never saw Sookie ending up with a vampire. I guess it’s because she was very clear that she didn’t want to be turned and I personally can’t see that working out.

Kirsten- I wasn’t being smug. I’m sorry if you read it that way but I wasn’t. Like I said I saw all the signs leading to Sam in every book. That’s my opinion but you’re entitled to yours too. I’m not sure a majority feel cheated by the ending. Based on other blogs and comments I’ve read I’d say it’s pretty equal but that’s to be expected from the ending of any book series. Some are going to like it and some aren’t.

I’d suggest you visit the amazon reviews of DEA, where currently 57% of the reviews posted are rated with 1 or 2 stars, while only 33% of reviews give it 5 stars.

And if all the signs clearly pointed to Sam then I think there would be a lot less readers surprised by the ending. I’m glad you got what you wanted. Of course, if you read SVB’s review you’d know that the HEA is clearly not the only thing readers didn’t like about DEA.

I did read the review SVB wrote and I know it wasn’t just about the HEA. That’s just the thing I picked up most in the other comments. While I’m happy about who she ended up with there were things about the book I didn’t like. I felt like it was rushed. I felt like she threw some characters we’d hadn’t seen in a while in there for the novelty of it. I also didn’t like how she went into third person sometimes. After 12 books strictly in the first person it was odd to have the mix up. Also she threw every other character in there but Bubba! I would have loved to know what happened to Bubba. I haven’t looked at the amazon reviews, I try not to buy books from them so I don’t check out their things too often. I will go over there and read some though.

A friend from work read the book and she said it was a page turner. She did say she did not like what was done to Eric, but she did not see Sookie as a bigot. It is amazing and disturbing to see real prejudice reflected in the reviews of and reaction to DEA.
I have not read the book, as I am waiting for the paperback to protect my drywall, but I trust SVB. However, I still find myself surprised by the ending so you are not alone.
I always knew there was a chance Eric and Sookie could not be together. I could live with that if Sookie would have at least acknowledged how extraordinary his love was. Instead she refused to truly believe in it and refused to really be a part of his life. She would not listen to and willfully mistook his advice for control. There is stubborn pride and then there is stupidity.
So again, you are not a fanatic, but you are apparently a fangbanger. You will find me right next to you in line.

CH liked to tease all the fan base. CH wanted everyone to think Eric was the HEA until the last book and pull the dog out of the hat. There was no build up between Sookie and Sam and she wanted to shock the readers.

Oh,yes. I totally saw Sam as the HEA.. Especially while Sookie was professing her Love for Eric to herself and anyone else around her!!(sarcasm) Sookie;”Whats the most important thing to me, His(Eric) love” Sookie’ “I love him(Eric) all on my own” !!??

“Eric’s MY team. He loves me. He wants to stay here.”
“I couldn’t imagine how I’d fill the hole left by his absence.”
“What was the only thing I valued? His love.”
“I looked forward to seeing him with a kind of desperation. I needed the reassurance of his presence, the assurance that he loved me, too, the passionate connection we felt when we touched each other.”
“my heart felt as if it were beating way too fast. I revisited the single disturbing scenario, over and over. Eric would choose her. He would leave me.”

IKR. Why would Sookie ever dream she could get what she wants? To know that she IS enough, that she was right to follow her heart and take a chance? ALO told her she wouldn’t keep Eric, she should have listened!

And when Niall said Eric’s only flaw was Sookie – we should have known that meant he would suffer for it. Pam always feared Sookie would be his downfall. The next time he feels happiness for the first time in hundreds of years he’ll know to run, in the OTHER direction.

They battled against their feelings for how many books – only to give in? Of course they would never beat the odds! Really, don’t feel sorry for them, they should have known better.

I know that some are upset for the sole reason that Sookie and Eric didn’t end up together, but that does not seem to be the majority.

(Outside of the rushed/forced plot lines and sticking with the relationship drama…) I think, it is more the way she treated Eric in this last book. The way she handled their relationship.

Unlike some, I have every intention on buying the coda. I very much need for them to have another moment and bring their relationship to closure, decently.

I was expecting tears- I still feel quite numb about the book. Not angry- just confused. Why would she piss on a character that she, herself, developed so fantastically well? I just don’t understand why… Sookie and Sam could have ended up together without the attempts to mar Eric’s character- *shrugs* It’s just so wackadoodle.

I kept waiting for Sookie to get a phone call- I figured that was doable- but nope- She allowed it to end this way… Just to be cruel? (Robot Chicken comes to mind…) “What a twist!?!” …is that it? I just don’t get it.

This must surely be the most ill-conceived, petulant act of literary hari-kari in recent memory.

My thoughts exactly. She is like a petulant child. “I can write any ending I want to!”

And you can pay the price for that too.

All she did with her presentation of profane, bigot Sookie in Chapters 1-9 was to convince me that she didn’t deserve Eric who was willing to sacrifice 100 years of his existence for such a twit.

Could she have possibly made her main character any more unlikable?

In the end I even felt sorry for Sam. I didn’t feel like Sookie was in love with him at all. I felt like she just rushed headlong into something else. And I felt like she would cheat on him just like Gran did with her husband. Not to mention that Sam could never live up to what Sookie expects. The Maenad could always compel him to come to her again (or a different Maenad) and she could hurt Sookie to send Sam a message. She will always be in danger because of her telepathy and her fairy relatives as well as people who hate shifters. And the people of Bon Temps will see her as a freak again and wonder if her children aren’t freaks themselves. Neither she nor Sam can escape what they are despite what she wants. So when reality hits her in the face again, Sam will be out just like Eri. In the end, Sookie was just too weak.

But Eric? Here’s where I ended with Eric.

During the divorce she knicks herself but Eric stabs himself and lets the blood run down. He actually opens a vein for her to show what he feels. He sneaks over to tell her what’s coming and that he has to be careful because he’s being watched. He tells her to have faith. I think that’s why he loses it in the end and says she never honored their marraige because she really didn’t. She always made a point of saying it wasn’t real by her standards, instead of just saying, I’d like to get married by my laws too now that it’s legal. Instead she just kept saying you know I don’t recognize that. And he did it to protect her which is the same reason he did the blood bond. He told her both times he would have to pay for it but he did it anyway. And all she could do was complain about both. It’s pretty sad. He killed Long Shadow and had to pay. He gave her a new drive way. He bought her a new coat. He took how many bullets for her? He defied SA’s man and forged the BB. He defied FdC’s man and married her. He killed Victor for her. He kept his crazy brother and his vindictive father away from her. He kept FdC away from her. He got rid of Mickey for her. He even gave Sam a bartender for her. Still, she didn’t believe he really cared for her. Then he gives up 100 years of his life.

Eric is her team even after he realizes she wants him gone because she can’t take it any more.

“Heard you were going,” I said, with an effort. “Yes, very soon. How are you? Do you want me to heal you?” I couldn’t interpret his voice or the fact that he was here. I was too exhausted to try. “No, Eric,” I said, and I only sounded flat. I just couldn’t find nice words. “Good-bye. We need to let go of each other. I can’t do this anymore.” Eric glared at Sam. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “Sam came because I was shot, Eric. That’s what friends do,” I said. Each word was a labor to enunciate. Sam didn’t turn to Eric, didn’t look him in the eye. I held on to his hand so I wouldn’t drift away. Eric spoke once again. “I will not release you.”

(DEA p. 266)

When Sookie says we have to let go of each other and I can’t do this anymore while she holds Sam’s hand, that’s it. That’s when Eric drops the bomb by saying to Sam that he won’t release him. She is suspicious. The next day when she gets home Bill has left a note saying he has something to tell her and that FdC will allow Eric’s measures to stay in place if he leaves tonight. (Why would FdC say that unless they’d been trying to get Eric to leave Sookie for awhile and he wasn’t cooperating? Why else that pointed reference to that negotiation. Or is Eric in trouble for seeing Sookie, although he has it written into the contract that he can’t be alone with Sookie on the condition that Sam not court her.) So then Bill comes by and tells her about the deal with Sam, but not allof it. Then Sam tells her and she learns more. Then Pam confirms and further drops a bomb that Sookie shouldn’t be sentimental about all the protection Eric sold 100 years of his life to get and had to leave that night to ensure. (He even told Pam she wouldn’t accept his healing so Pam could offer.)

And what does all this do? Propels Sookie into bed with Sam. I don’t think that’s any mistake, that timing. As soon as Sookie says she can’t take any more, Eric finally frees her. She says it herself when Sam tells her about the deal with Eric.

“I guess Eric read you better than I did. He knew if he let me go, you were standing first in line waiting. Not that I think there’s a line!” I added hastily, when Sam looked startled. “I just mean . . . he saw more than I did. Or he could see it more clearly.”

(DEA p. 281)

And there you have it. Sookie herself said that he let her go and he knew Sam would be waiting. And he negotiated her protection for life so she could be with him.

I never felt throughout ANY of the books that Sookie was interested in Sam, not even when I read STW. To me it read that she felt uncomfortable having to pretend to be his girlfriend – that it definetely wasn’t something she was interested in. I was always a reader for Sookie and DEA completely blind sided me.

I agree that while reading DEA I never felt that Sookie really wanted Sam, what she wanted was SOMEONE so that she could hide from her real feelings. With all the talk about the devil and souls etc I kept reading expecting something to have happened to Sookie’s soul – that it was tainted in some way. But no, it just ended with them in the saddest and most uncomfortable love scene I’ve ever read. Really, I felt I needed to shower to wash the “dirty” from my body.

I love your interpretation of what Eric’s done for her. It’s healed me a little and has put a small, bright spot in the book for me. Thank you.

Those are wonderful thoughts. I just wanted to see Sookie tell Eric she finally realized how much he did for her. I wanted him to be able to go off with that in his heart. Sookie, being Sookie, would not do this because she was only concerned with how this was affecting her. How could you be so cold to someone you claim to love? This is one of the reasons I find her wanting to atone and go back to God funny. Her selfishness makes her a horrible Christian at a fundamental level.

I wanted (and still want) the same. Though, I think both Eric and Sookie are stubborn and have issues opening up and sharing their feelings eith one another. We have been with them for 13 books… they could have said their goodbyes in “their way” and we would have understood it and appreciated the moment.

I can’t believe Sookie’s attachment to “Christianity.” She can continue to be a Christian but her experiences should have taught her that she can’t blindly follow the words in that man made book… (which she, now, knows has quite a few whole in it) …It would have been nice if she had reached a deeper spiritual level besides the one she was taught during her ignorance of the world.

Thanks for your comment. Am I utterly pathetic for getting watery-eyed after reading this?? You took the words right out of my head–and they have literally been swirling non-stop since 3:30AM on May 8th. If Sookie had even just acknowledged the enormous sacrifices Eric had made on her behalf, I might have been more okay with the ending. Instead she decides to act like a high-schooler and force their breakup argument on her porch into a contrived & childish fight just so she could blame him as the bad guy and she could walk away feeling faultless.

CH didn’t just ruin the final book, she tainted the whole series for me. At first I wanted to go back and re-read all of the books again just to make sure that I wasn’t hallucinating the numerous examples of Eric’s love for Sookie. I might be pathetic, but now I don’t even have the heart to go back & re-read all of the wonderful moments that they shared between themselves because its just too painful. Most of all though, I won’t re-read the books because I know my conclusions about Eric & Sookie will stay the same and I’ll just be even angrier at the end.

I honestly don’t know why I care so much and I genuinely wish I didn’t. I’ve followed this series for almost 7 years now and I have loved many other book series for just as long and whose endings also left me unhappy, but this is the only one that I cannot stop thinking about…

I feel like a lunatic and I wish I could understood why it’s bothering me so much even a week later and after reading so many reactions similar to mine (which I really hoped would make me feel better). I saw the ending coming so it’s not like it took me by surprise either. I honestly feel like I’m going through a breakup or I’m grieving the loss of a person (I’m pretty sure my bf thinks I’m nuts). I don’t know why I’m reacting so poorly to this book or why I can’t seem let it go…I wish I did though, since I feel like forgetting that Sookie ever meant anything to me.

I wish I could say that True Blood might be worth holding-out hope for (in terms of a proper resolution with Eric), but it honestly has started to feel like nothing more than the Anna & Stephen show. If they kill Eric during this season like some spoilers have suggested, then good-riddance to all of it! I’ll be done with fucking Bon Temps for good!

One of the things that has left such a bad taste in my mouth about the way she chose to end Eric and Sookie is the fact that it feels like nothing between them ever meant anything. She not only trashed them as the HEA, but she’s tainted everything that came before. I’m just as upset that I will never reread this series again, because it’s all so tainted, as I am about the way she ended it.

Thank you SVB for reading it and reviewing !Everything I read about DEA including spoilers, all reviews and comments just sealed (omg I should not use this word!) my decision to not read it. I’m going to play ostrich – this book did not happen, I know it’s coward but I’d like to be able to come back to read about Eric and Sookie and I don’t think i can find enough bleach to clean my brain if I do.Thanks to all who read and shared and allowed me this choice.

sorry just wanted to add, not planning to read it anytime soon, it’s a bit too raw at the moment and no matter how many times I try old Scarlett O’Hara “think about tomorrow” it’s not working yet. Duh!!!take page out of the classic CH no HEA in Gone with the wind but people still loved it and will love for years ahead.

Thank you SVB for the review. As usual you’ve nailed it; both with the review and your comments. Now I understand why I’m hurt by what essentially is just a book. And I’m sorry if you are hurt as well. I’m going to give all my C Harris away and go back to reading Terry Pratchett. Try Carpe Jugulum. It might cheer you up.

Although i don’t post much I’ve been on this journey with you for over 3 years and have to take this opportunity to thank you for all the effort, heart & soul you have put into the SVB. If only CH had done the same. Disappointed & betrayed is exactly how I felt after reading DEA. (Liz)

Great review SVB. Eleven years ago I read book and it was a fun book. It was not a book that would be considered the works of a literary genius but as I said they were fun. I continued the series and kept reading CH’s books because of Eric Northman. I tolerated the constant recaps and mundane details of dish washer, hair washing, weeding the flowerbeds and how Bubba became a vampire (which I could recite in my sleep). And then the big bad ugly started happening in book 10. Bait and switch us…and call us crazy…really??? I feel manipulated by CH. CH , who I stood up for on the TB HBO forum for about two year solid. I fought for her story and cared about her story more than she did apparently. I gave her too much credit all this time…too much credit and too much cash. I will be getting rid of my books when I find an appropriate way. Anybody have a replica viking ship so I can give Eric Northman a viking funeral?

True MB1, Erc’s character deserved a better ending. He deserved something Epic, not fallen for a town human/fairy who rather accept and embrace those who use her and thought her less worthy just because they are human or a known, than someone who stood up to his superiors more than once with the chance to die (sophie ann and her bestie,Felipe, Victor, and even a Fairy king because he loved her. For someone who stood up to a queen vamp wanting him she sure dropped him fast. Eric should have been king of Louisiana in the end. He still could have protected her silly ungrateful ass.

I could never understand why Harris started hating Eric so much. It’s like the more popular he grew among the fans, the more she plotted to destroy him. But why? She hit a literary gold with him, creating one of the most adored vampires in genre fiction, and she should have taken more care to respect her fans’ love for him.

“She hit a literary gold with him [Eric], creating one of the most adored vampires in genre fiction, and she should have taken more care to respect her fans’ love for him.”

That is SO TRUE!
I think any up-and-coming or unknown author (or in CH’s case – midlist) would give their left leg to have a character like Eric appeal to so many PNF/PNR/UF reader’s!

Eric is such a dynamic character and even in the books where he was less centric I found myself anxiously waiting for him to appear on page. And while this is Sookie’s story, I loved Eric every bit as much as I did Sookie. Everyone else in the story from book 3 on was peripheral and I think CH did this absolutely on purpose.
Eric was always up in the PNF/UF polls for Alpha Male against the likes of Bones,Curran, JZB, Ethan, etc.

The books were Eric/Sookie centric from book 3-12. I don’t care what the naysayers say about that. Eric’s name crosses Sookie’s lips, and thoughts in her head, more than any other character from book 3 to 12.
Every literary device used in the books were Eric/Sookie centric.
AE in DTTW.
Heart’s Desire Curse.
Memoryless Eric, while Sookie remembers it all too well.
The bloodbond & Rhodes bombing.
The takeover – and Eric regains his memories (4 books later)
The marriage.
ALO and Alexei come to LA.
The Victor assissination plot.
The contract to QOK and FDC’s punishment threat/Eric framed for murder in plot to get Sookie by her Cousin Claude and JL.
The Culviel D’or.

All the things they went through, all the obstacles placed before them that they worked to overcome. For what?
Only to have Sam by default, fill the hole left in Sookie’s life by Eric’s absence, and the “appearance of normal.”
That’s tragic.

Eric was literary gold. He was a HUGE contributing factor in keeping the reader’s engaged in the story, and CH took full advantage of that. CHA-CHING $$ …
I can’t help but feel she took the money and ran. She’s already loaded, so going back to being a midlist author with a limited fan base is probably no skin off her teeth.
And yeah, let it be known to the literary world that I do feel completely let down. It fucking sucks.
If that makes me an entitled reader, I REALLY DON’T CARE. Because, I’m also an entitled buyer.

It did put a scare in my heart about Sam, when he turned into a lion. I thought ‘shit, he can protect her, too!’ But she continued to have Sookie love Eric more and more, so I figured that wasn’t that big of a deal, maybe. Boy, was I wrong. LOL

AE in DTTW.
Heart’s Desire Curse.
Memoryless Eric, while Sookie remembers it all too well.
The bloodbond & Rhodes bombing.
The takeover – and Eric regains his memories (4 books later)
The marriage.
ALO and Alexei come to LA.
The Victor assissination plot.
The contract to QOK and FDC’s punishment threat/Eric framed for murder in plot to get Sookie by her Cousin Claude and JL.
The Culviel D’or.
* * *
Makes you wonder if it just wasn’t so much “entertaining the vermin”, doesn’t it?

Amen Missie and Leif! …And as SVB put it just above- it had to be vindictive.

I think, maybe, we all loved Eric too much. Maybe Harris felt too much pressure so she just said, “Screw it! TO HELL WITH YOU ALL!” Her world, her way- and we suffer as the victims to her unnecessary cruelty.

But you know what, we got our money’s worth-
We gave her the cash and then we got F*CKED!
(…channeling a bit of Eric Cartman, right now-
wouldn’t usually drop an F Bomb.)

I have never in my life yelled at an author like this, Charlaine Harris. When my mother yells like this it’s because she loves me. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you! How dare you! Learn something from this! You go to bed at night, you lay there and you take responsibility for yourself – because nobody’s going to take responsibility for you. You rolling your eyes and you act like it’s because you’ve heard it all before – you’ve heard it all before – you don’t know where the hell I come from, You have no idea what I’ve been through, but I’m not a victim; I grow from it and I learn. Take responsibility for yourself!

All jokes aside, it’s sad to see how much potential this series had with the vampire politics/summits and all the other tidbits she threw in throughout the books. RIP Potentially Awesome Plots. I’m glad I haven’t spent any money on them since DAG so I’ll consider THAT book as my ending. Better an opening ending left to interpretation than a contrived one where the author retcons everything to hell

Wow,now I’ve really GOT to read this series. I read book 1 but then got distracted by writing my own books and by reading a few other series. but after reading about all this controversy I want to dig in and experience for myself.

I know jack shit about this series, other than of course I know who Sookie Stackhouse and True Blood is, but I get the sense that Harris might have wanted to do something to set her book series apart from the tv one and end the series in a way that would have people talking.

If that, indeed was her goal…it would appear she’s succeeded.

As I said, I have only read book one so I’m not qualified to comment on anything else. but from reading all the posts on various sites, FB and Amazon, this is IMHO.

If you’re doing it to find out why it’s different.. don’t bother. It’s different from what we’ve come to expect in THIS genre. However, you will find mundane endings like this in just about ANY trashy paperback romance at the grocery store. No need to put yourself through 13 books of it to see that… that sounds like a waste of time. Unless, of course, you have time to waste.

On another note, her being different in her chosen genre, would have been what WE expected, Sookie staying human. But still being with an immortal. You don’t see that every day in PNR/UF. Wasted time.

Except in the trashy paperback romance the guy who was with her for books 4-12 would get her in the end. It’s against formula to switch out your HEA at the last minute. I’m sure she lost all of her romance readers with that one.

Dear SVB,
Your beautiful blog has kept me going between books. I have always been in 100% agreement with your interpretation of the text. I love your review on DEA – it must have cost you something to pen it so graciously given CH’s deliberate and exceedingly poor form. I have the utmost respect for you.
Your forum has widened my mind to a whole genre I’d previously admonished from afar in the land of high fantasy/science fiction. For that I am ever grateful.
While we all need closure eventually, I do hope your website remains open in some form for a long while to come.

As an ex-Christian who has spent a lot of time pondering religion both before and after I became an atheist, I couldn’t agree more. I noticed Sookie’s tone(or Harris’s rather) had changed a bit. That was annoying but you pretty much put my thoughts into way better words than I could have said on the subject. I could go on, but i was just really disappoint with this book and disappoint in some of the things that Harris has said about her readers.

I will however miss your wit and humor and of course book reviews. Perhaps we should start a book club! Decide what to read and the we can all gather here, discuss, and read your review!

Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into this blog and these books.

Thanks so much SVB – I loved every word! It couldn’t have been fun, but it helped, it really did. *muah*

While this series was a fun, sexy escape – I also enjoyed what I thought were messages about self-acceptance, diversity and tolerance – as well as respected the author for writing about tough subjects such as rape and sexual abuse. It took a horribly bad turn in this final book. I wish I could shrug it off as pointless but there was a point to these books, several actually, and ones that I reject on so many levels. It was like ending up with food poisoning after thinking you were eating a fabulous meal. If only I could projectile vomit this out of my brain.

Even Sam’s story, what little we know of it, is depressing. After living a double life pretending to be human and worrying about someone finding out his secret, he FINALLY comes out as a shifter – only to reject that part of himself to try to be “more human”.

Blech! Can someone pass me a mint please? I can’t get rid of this awful taste.

On a survey back a couple years ago on CH’s site I listed this as my most memorable quote, while I gushed about how much I loved ATD.

“Sam, two years ago I didn’t have any idea of what the world around me was really like. I didn’t know what you really were; I didn’t know that vampires were as different from each other as we are. I didn’t know that there were real fairies… What a world this is, Sam. It’s wonderful and it’s scary. Each day is different. I never thought I would have any kind of life for myself, and now I do.”

Well, I was just as much the fool as Sookie was it turned out. Sam was so right, she should have just stayed home & pretended to be happy & “normal”.

Nope, sorry CH. In my fictional world – you don’t settle for tomatoes, creeps like ALO don’t win, rapist don’t make good friends, love is worth fighting for, every day is a new possibility, the most meaningful acceptance you can find is within yourself, what makes you different is embraced and it is never wrong to follow your heart or hope for MORE. The Sookie books don’t belong in my world, not anymore, not ever again.

” In my fictional world – you don’t settle for tomatoes, creeps like ALO don’t win, rapist don’t make good friends, love is worth fighting for, every day is a new possibility, the most meaningful acceptance you can find is within yourself, what makes you different is embraced and it is never wrong to follow your heart or hope for MORE. The Sookie books don’t belong in my world, not anymore, not ever again.”

“Nope, sorry CH. In my fictional world – you don’t settle for tomatoes, creeps like ALO don’t win, rapist don’t make good friends, love is worth fighting for, every day is a new possibility, the most meaningful acceptance you can find is within yourself, what makes you different is embraced and it is never wrong to follow your heart or hope for MORE. The Sookie books don’t belong in my world, not anymore, not ever again.”

I wish I could hit the like button 1,000 times because this quote is so deserving of that. A-fricking-men!!!

I thought I was done crying over this, but nope…in tears again. The ATD quote got me, then that last paragraph…thanks heart’s desire. I approve of your fictional world. It sounds an awful lot like mine. <3

That quote gets to me too. And being that this is fiction and I’m feeling all entitled – THAT’S how I will choose to remember Sookie.

And this is how I will always remember Eric. “What the hell are you doing?” “Protecting you,” he said. He was smiling with the joy of battle, and his blue eyes were glittering like sapphires….. Carried away on a wave of excitement, Eric kissed me long and hard and then scooped up Wybert’s head. “Bowling for vampires”, he said….. With a war cry that had not been heard in a thousand years, Eric attacked the circle around the queen and Andre with a savagery and abandon that was almost beautiful in it’s way.”

“In my fictional world – you don’t settle for tomatoes, creeps like ALO don’t win, rapist don’t make good friends, love is worth fighting for, every day is a new possibility, the most meaningful acceptance you can find is within yourself, what makes you different is embraced and it is never wrong to follow your heart or hope for MORE. The Sookie books don’t belong in my world, not anymore, not ever again”

“Nope, sorry CH. In my fictional world – you don’t settle for tomatoes, creeps like ALO don’t win, rapist don’t make good friends, love is worth fighting for, every day is a new possibility, the most meaningful acceptance you can find is within yourself, what makes you different is embraced and it is never wrong to follow your heart or hope for MORE. The Sookie books don’t belong in my world, not anymore, not ever again.”

“Nope, sorry CH. In my fictional world – you don’t settle for tomatoes, creeps like ALO don’t win, rapist don’t make good friends, love is worth fighting for, every day is a new possibility, the most meaningful acceptance you can find is within yourself, what makes you different is embraced and it is never wrong to follow your heart or hope for MORE. The Sookie books don’t belong in my world, not anymore, not ever again.”

Thanks SVB for putting into words exactly what I feel about the final book and the series as a whole! I could not have said it any better. I just finished DEA about an hour ago and my head is still spining, I feel so disapointed and let down. I expected the series to go out with a bang instead it was a whimper. I have spent 12 books rooting for Sookie, laughing and crying with her and invested time and money in this series, reccomended it to others. It was never a great work of literature, the mysteries could be weak, inconsistencies were abunddent but it was fun and and relaxing and I got invested in the characters all only to have this insult of an ending to the series I came to love. I have always thought the series was about a woman who is an outcast and comes from a small town expanding her world through opening her mind to different types of people and supes and becoming more tolerent and realizing she was never meant to have a conventional life but that she could have a good one nonetheless. I also became invested in the character of Eric Northman and his relationship with Sookie. Throughout the entire series except this last book, her growing relationship with Eric has been one of the central plotlines, along with her expanding worldview and growing as a person. Eric has always been at the forefront along with Sookie but this has lessend over the last few books, but I always felt that it was leading up to a big showdown where Eric and Sookie would both end up doing extraordinary things to be with eachother, both making sacrafices to be together in the end. Instead Eric gets completely sidelined and shat on as a character that many fans came to love. None of what went down lessens him in my eyes, I still love the character he is but I can’t say the same for Sookie. She went back to being closeminded and I feel she settled, by being with Sam, though I have always loved Sam. I remember her always remarking on how she thought he was hot, had a few fantasies but always made a point of saying he was just a good friend and her boss. But then out of nowhere CH expects us to buy that all along the series has been leading up to Sook and Sam ending up together?! I am sorry, but that was not at all where I saw the story leading up to becuase Sam was not around as much as Eric, her relationship with Sam was not a key theme throughout each book unlike her relationship with Eric was. While reading DEA, I kept waiting for Eric’s plot to be fleshed out, when Quinn mentioned he was working on his and Freyda’s wedding, I expected Sookie would crash the wedding to fight for the man she loves, that would have been epic or Eric would have offed Freyda and Fellipe, that Pam and Karin and Sookie would have come up with a plan to get Eric back, anything! Instead this whole storyline with Eric and Felipe and Freyda that started in Dead in The Family, and had been developing since is not resolved or even mentioned that much. Its just kind of left hanging there and then THE END. Eric is striped of his autonomy, has to leave behind Pam and Karin, Sookie gives up on him and jumps into bed with Sam and he signs away and extra 100 years of his life just so Sookie can be safe from vampires. But none of this makes any difference to Sookie which is infuriating. Ever since this plot came up, I really felt CH was leading up to a huge fight/showdown and that Eric but especially Sookie would fight for their love and end up prevailing over Freyda and Fellipe and finnaly be in control of their lives but no, that does not happen! Instead CH tries in vain to ruin Eric’s character and make him out to be a selfish jerk who “always had a choice” what choices did he have exactly? Sookie does not grow as a person but ends up going back to being pretty small minded and I feel, prejudiced against vampires. I kept waiting and waiting for the Eric drama to have a conclusion but it never came. It all felt very rushed and thrown together. I am very disapointed that a series that I loved ended in such a terrible anticlimactic way. If CH never intended on readers becoming so attactched and fond of Eric Northman than she should have written him in a different way.

I actually think it’s worse than that because at the start of the series Sookie wasn’t small minded, she was very open minded and loved meeting and learning about people who weren’t normal. Now she’s much farther back than where she started.

Honestly,there’s just no point in arguing or trying to provide facts of how f*ktarded DEA is. CH never cared, money is all that matters. She admitted that readers are the ones that point out her mistakes. If you are a devoted writer and can’t remember what and when something happened, then you should go through the books again yourself. This just proves how lazy and inconsiderate she is.

An interesting diatribe but not very helpful in trying to understand the message of Sookie’s story. Yes, the books were about the need for inclusion and co-existence, except that genuine inclusion and co-existence can only happen when cultures actually want to be inclusive and co-exist instead of just pretending to do so. Progress doesn’t happen overnight. Vampires have only been out of the coffin for a few years and still believe that they are superior to everyone else. Shifters have been out even less, and humans want to register them and put them in concentration camps because they are infectious animals. Fairies don’t even want to come out. Humans can barely deal with the idea that their world isn’t entirely their own. They can’t agree if they are supposed to co-exist with other species, worship them, or destroy them. How can all of that possibly lead to real inclusion and co-existence? CH created a fucked up world that NEEDS inclusion and co-existence and is working towards it, but certainly hadn’t achieved it yet. Until it does, the story of Sookie Stackhouse and Eric Northman is destined to be a tragic Shakespearean sonnet.

Sookie is a Christian. If you had trouble accepting that, you should have stopped reading after DUD. Sookie had always been open about the conflict between her religious beliefs and the reality of her very dangerous and morally ambiguous life. This is hardly a surprise. Why should Sookie stop believing as she does just because you decided to give up on Catholicism?

Sookie is not a superhero. She had never wanted to be a superhero. She had never seen herself as someone who was destined for great things. She just wanted not to be a freak. And that’s exactly what Sookie realizes in DEA. She learns to love, accept, and value herself for who she is, not for who other people may want her to become. She also comes to terms with the fact that she doesn’t want to be a vampire. She wants to live a simple life in her ancestral home, be a member of her community, and MAYBE be with a man who can build his life around her and their family. Someone whose life belongs to him and not to an archaic hierarchy. Someone whose connection to her can’t be exploited and put her into constant danger. Every woman deserves to live a safe and peaceful life, in as much as that is possible. Romantic love shouldn’t require suffering and sacrifice and dying. And if Sookie chooses not to change herself and her life to live up to a romantic ideal, who are we to demand that she does? It’s her fucking life!

Also regarding character assassination of Eric. That’s just complete bullshit. Eric had always been Eric. There wasn’t anything different in Eric in DEA that wasn’t in other books. He just actually talked to Sookie about his feelings and expectations rather than telling her that they’ll talk later. Eric is better with actions. Whenever he tries to explain things, he ends up chewing on his own foot. Eric is not a powerless victim or a selfish shithead. Eric is a pragmatist. Eric found a practical solution to the situation that his maker put him into. He chose to marry Freyda and spend 100 years paying his dues with her rather than insult her and expose himself and those he loves to more suffering and probably death. That’s why he chose to honor the contract–not because he couldn’t go against his dead maker’s wishes or because he wanted the wealth and power that Freyda wanted. Also Eric wanted Sookie to become a vampire because that was the only way for them to be together long-term and offered to turn her. HE NEVER PRESSURED HER. He wanted her to make that decision on her own. He promised her that he wouldn’t turn her against her will, and he never did even though he thought about it. Eric also hoped that Sookie would use cluviel dor to fix his problems–that she would put him first–but he never asked her. He expected Sookie to read his mind. That was his mistake. Eric also made his decision to marry Freyda in DEA w/o consulting Sookie, assuming that she would go along with his plans and be happy about them. That was another mistake. Eric assumed that eventually Sookie would change her mind and become a vampire, and they could be together after his marriage to Freyda was over. They would have eternity, so what was 100 years? However, Sookie didn’t want to become a vampire, and Eric had to give up more of his freedom to arrange for her protection. That’s what comes of being high-handed, making assumptions about other people, and taking their agreement with your decisions for granted. In the end, Eric made sure that Sookie, Pam, and Karin benefited from his deal with Freyda and FDC, and that is who Eric really is deep down. He won’t make sacrifices on general principles, but if he must, they might as well benefit those who matter to him. That’s pragmatic. FDC may not keep his word to Sookie, but I bet he will to Eric and Freyda because they are fucking scary. And if he breaks it, Eric will make him regret it. That I can believe in.

CH didn’t single Eric out for special punishment because she hates him and his fans. We all live under certain familial and cultural pressures, and Eric is not immune from that. As Freyda pointed out to Sookie, Eric’s perception of his autonomy was a delusion. Eric is a vampire. The vampire society is not a democracy, and vampires don’t have civil rights like we do…at least in America. Vampire culture is based on the ancient system of barter and bargaining. Vampire lives are not valued unless they have something to offer to other vampires. Eric had been a part of this system for over 1,000 years. He can’t escape it. He can’t revolt against it. All he can do is minimize its damage on himself and those under his care. It’s difficult for Sookie and most readers to understand this kind of thinking because we are modern humans. We have EVOLVED, while vampires didn’t. Vampire society doesn’t recognize an individual’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, so the situation that Eric found himself in can happen to any vampire. It could happen to Sookie if she had chosen to become a vampire. She may have been the one who had to barter away her freedom and her body to keep herself and her loved ones safe some day. I don’t blame Sookie for not wanting to become a vampire even if she had to give up Eric. I wouldn’t give up my life, freedom, and humanity for all the Eric Northman’s in the world.

Finally, CH DID write a paranormal fantasy series. What she didn’t write was a paranormal romance. She didn’t write a modern day love story between a human girl and a vampire. That’s Twilight. CH wrote a story about a woman’s self-actualization journey. She also included individual self-actualization journeys for the supporting characters in the books. All of the characters in the books, even characters like Terry Bellefleur, have transformative story arcs. If you look at the story as a whole, rather than trying to nitpick at continuity errors or whatnot, it’s very clear.

I must have missed something. Exactly *how* is Sookie self-actualized? Sookie wants to “fit in” in BT, the community who rejected her as a “freak”. She fits in fine but I don’t think it’s because she’s realized her full potential. She’s just decided to stay where she’s comfortable, and to appear to be what is comfortable to those around her, despite the cost. That’s very clear to me.

Sookie has list of guys in her head. Sookie has abandoned disorder and Eric dump her and Sookie went to the next guy. Anyone who has abandoned disorder good verses bad. Vampires are evil and people goes to Church are good that’s part of the illness Sookie is going through. Sookie isn’t capable of loving anyone.

Lucky for Sam that he likes his woman crazy because Sookie is going to get worst with disorder. If Sam dies or leaves her, Sookie will find replacement in two weeks.

We really don’t know why Sookie lie or CH is very lazy writer and forgotten that Sam knows that Sookie trying to tead his mind and he blocks it.

I do feel sorry for Sookie because of her disorder and she needs help. I don’t see Sam helping her at all.

I’ll have to return to some other points in your post, but no. Pragmatic would have been throwing sookie under the bus as soon as Freyda moved in trying to close the deal Appius made for Eric to be her consort. Negotiating for Sookie put him at a marked disadvantage.

“Also Eric wanted Sookie to become a vampire because that was the only way for them to be together long-term and offered to turn her. HE NEVER PRESSURED HER.”

Why would that have to be the only way for them to be together long term? Why would eric be so dead set on turning sookie if she didn’t want it? Also, yes you’re right. He didn’t pressure her. He didn’t even turn her on her potential death bed in DAG or in DEA.

“We have EVOLVED, while vampires didn’t. Vampire society doesn’t recognize an individual’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, so the situation that Eric found himself in can happen to any vampire. It could happen to Sookie if she had chosen to become a vampire”

Again, I might not be following this train of thought b/c I seriously didn’t buy eric having a great need to turn sookie. I do agree that if Sookie had become a vampire that she may have been subject to some of the same rules. I don’t think it’s entirely accurate saying that humans have evolved while vampires have not. It seems to me that vampires “came out” b/c they wanted something different than what they’d had for thousands of years. Otherwise why come out? Also, multiple times CH pointed out how vampires were more evolved in terms of some of their social views (e.g. accepting gay marriage).

“I don’t blame Sookie for not wanting to become a vampire even if she had to give up Eric. I wouldn’t give up my life, freedom, and humanity for all the Eric Northman’s in the world. ”

Again, I’m not exactly following this b/c I never saw turning Sookie as a priority for Eric. Also, if this is true it’s funny that the author tried to paint Sookie’s end circumstances as a result of eric “not loving her enough.”

“CH created a fucked up world that NEEDS inclusion and co-existence and is working towards it, but certainly hadn’t achieved it yet. Until it does, the story of Sookie Stackhouse and Eric Northman is destined to be a tragic Shakespearean sonnet.”

I can at least partially agree with this. However, I don’t think epic tragedy was the point the author was going for.

For me, sookie became a “small person” Not because she wanted to live in a small town, but because of the pattern of her thoughts and actions.

“I can at least partially agree with this. However, I don’t think epic tragedy was the point the author was going for.

For me, sookie became a “small person” Not because she wanted to live in a small town, but because of the pattern of her thoughts and actions.”

Yes, Rina seems to have missed the point. I don’t think anyone actually believed that world peace and tolerance would be achieved in these books. The problem a lot of us had IS with Sookie’s “self-actualization journey” that has left her more small minded than where she began. It seems to have squashed any desire she once had to hope for more as well.

Sookie admits to being prejudiced against vampires and she considers them users of humans. As though humans aren’t? Despite all the despicable humans in this series, or anytime one turns on the news for that matter? She’s so glad she never told Eric about Hunter, who has always gone out of his way to protect her and gave up another 100 years of his freedom to continue to protect her, meanwhile it’s two humans that are after Hunter to mold him for their own purpose. Mixed messages indeed.

As far as Sookie not being wanting to be a super hero or a vampire, yes – I’d say that’s a given. I doubt you’d find anyone here that would want either for Sookie. As far as Sookie always being a Christian, it never bothered me until Harris started preaching at me.

Eric seemed to have once enjoyed a more peaceful existence under QSA and once Felipe and Freyda were defeated things could have settled down for at least Sookie’s natural lifetime. There’s also no reason to believe that even if Felipe keeps his promise he can possibly control every vampire in his territory and the surrounding territories,including the rogues. Then of course Sookie always has the threat of other supes and humans who would want to use her gift.

And while I agree that Eric never pressured her into turning – he admitted to wanting to turn her without her consent and Pam pretty much confirms that this is what he had planned to do. Sookie believes it and tells Amelia this is what he had in store for her. Which is all made clear with the introduction of Sookie 101, aka Karin. All that stuff about Eric thinking Sookie was special… he just reminded her of Pam & Karin, or so we are to believe.

I certainly didn’t want a Twilight ending for Eric & Sookie, however the ending she did get – having a bunch of obstacles magically fixed so she wouldn’t have to sacrifice anything – did remind me of Twilight but less convincing.

How’s Sookie thinking of vampires as users of humans different from Eric thinking that humans are the worst, and that there is nothing better than being a vampire even though it was vampires who forced him into the situation that he was in? Do you think if Sookie offered Eric to become human and spend a mortal life with her, he would have agreed? Neither Sookie nor Eric could see the value of the other’s species and basically believed that theirs suited them better. Neither of them was willing to change for the other. Why do people need to change everything about themselves for love? Maybe love should be as simple as finding someone who fits into your life and can be your best friend.

No, Sookie doesn’t give up anything to have the life she wants. But why should she? Why are romances built around the idea that a woman needs to suffer and sacrifice herself for true love the way that Bella Swan did? What does Edward give up in Twilight? He gets a wife, a child, and peace with the Volturi handed to him on a silver platter by the women who love him. What does he risk or sacrifice for his happily ever after? Nothing. Well, CH wrote a story in which a man makes sacrifices because he loves. Maybe this story needed to be written.

We don’t seem to be on the same page so I’ll try to clarify a couple things. I had no interest in Sookie becoming a vampire nor did I think it was necessary for a S/E ending. Sookie didn’t want it, Eric said he wouldn’t do it and the author said it would never happen. So that’s been a non-issue for a long time. I didn’t want or expect Sookie to suffer or sacrifice herself either. However, the basic premise of the series was that Sookie couldn’t be involved romantically with someone whose thoughts she could hear, she didn’t want to have children and risk passing her telepathy down to them and she never thought she could have a life of her own. Those are the obstacles the author created that I was referring to.

An author who said, “A vampire can’t give her what she’s always thought she wanted; a regular marriage with children. But that doesn’t mean Sookie will end up with exactly what she wants.”

”I’m not saying that “happily ever afters” are a bad thing, and I’m not saying Sookie will never be happy … but she’s not going to settle down and start a family and have the white picket fence.”

I agree that people shouldn’t have to completely change themselves for love, but if someone really cares then they should at least be willing to sacrifice something for love. It doesn’t even have to be romantic love, people should be willing to make sacrifices for their friends and family as well. (A literary example would be the way Sherlock Holmes ended.)

Yes Twilight, a famously sexist series, has a heroine that sacrifices everything and a hero that sacrifices nothing, but that is hardly the norm and is definitely not the rule. Romeo gave up his life to be with Juliet (in death), Sydney Carton gave up his life in A Tale of Two Cities so the woman he loved could be with the man she that loved, Jack saves Rose in Titanic, and Rick Blaine in Casablanca gives up his chance to be with the woman he loves so she can be happy.

I’m not saying that women never sacrifice for love in film or literature, but they definitely aren’t the only ones.

Imo, Bella didn’t really sacrifice for Edward. She very much wanted to be a vampire (so much so that it weirded me out). Strangely enough, by the end of both series, as a reader I had significant problems with both Bella and Sookie, for being at extreme ends of a spectrum. Bella seemed (to me) to almost despise being human. Sookie, seemed to (almost) despise vampires…

In my opinion Bella didn’t really like herself as a person (not specifically as a human, just in general) and being a vampire was in her mind just an easy way to drastically change herself and make herself a part of a family and a life that she liked better than hers. But I could be wrong because couldn’t connect to her at all so I was more just trying to get through the series to be done with it than trying to analyze and enjoy it.

Either way, whatever was going on in Twilight wasn’t the norm as far as romantic stories go so I don’t think that a story should be commended just because it’s different than Twilight.

From what I remember, that was my impression as well. Turning into a vampire is what she really wanted, it was her choice. With it came the sacrifices – not being able to have children or have a relationship with her human parents or her BFF Jacob since weres & vamps were enemies. However all of that was magically fixed by the end so she didn’t have sacrifice anything. And here I used to think the SSN was far superior. I’m not sure which I find more disturbing anymore.

Eric told Sookie that Pam was a great choice, and that Sookie was his other great choice. Yes, Sookie was special to Eric. He had a relationship with her unlike any that he had with Pam or Karin. But she wasn’t the only woman in his life and never would be. If she let him turn her, she would be his third progeny. She would always have to share him with Pam and Karin and maybe even future progenies. That’s the reality of vampire relationships. Sookie just didn’t want that life.

“She would always have to share him with Pam and Karin and maybe even future progenies.”

Eric and Pam had not had a sexual relationship for decades, if not centuries. Pam came to Shreveport b/c Eric asked her to help run his business…and she was glad to. Again, I never felt turning Sookie was a priority for Eric, but even if he did, he did not have the same relationship with her as he did with Pam (or Karin, I presume).

Pragmatism is not the same as selfishness. Of course Eric wasn’t going to push Sookie under the bus to save himself. That was never who he was. But he wasn’t going to die on general principles just because the vampires were messing with his happiness. Eric found a practical solution that allowed him and his family to survive and even benefit from a horrible and unfair situation. And yes I believe that Eric wanted to turn Sookie into a vampire all along. He told her all the way back in Living Dead in Dallas that he often thought about her mortality. Why should that have stopped after they got together? How else were he and Sookie going to have a long-term relationship? Eric didn’t want to have Sookie for 60 years and watch her grow old and die. He wanted her for eternity. He’s a vampire. If Sookie had agreed to become a vampire, then she and Eric could have gotten back together after his marriage to Freyda ended in 100 years. If I were Eric Northman, a 1,000 y/o pragmatist, that’s what I would have planned on. Unfortunately, Sookie threw a monkey wrench into Eric’s plans. LOL

“he wanted her for eternity”
yeah… only, we were told in the first books that vampire-vampire relationships don’t last long… Maybe CH “forgot” that too LOL

I can buy, and in fact always assumed, that Eric saw Sookie as a potential child when he first met her. She’s his type afterall.
But after he got to know her and started to “feel things” for her, it’s only logical things would change.

He KNEW she didn’t want it and agreed never to do it, and I believe he wouldn’t have.
Would he have LIKED to turn her if she asked? Of course, since it would have made a lot of things easier for both of them, but I also believe he WOULD have stayed with her throughout her natural life.

Even in DOA he acts offended that she never believed he’d stay with her as she aged. That to me means he would, unless you think he was lying, even though he’d just been freely addressing the turning issue seconds before.

Don’t be too hard on yourself. There were some really shiny characters and ideas in that trash. If you are inclined to try another series I’d still highly recommend the mercy Thompson books (Patricia Briggs), the kate Daniels series (Ilona Andrews), Chloe Neill, kate elliott,and stacia Kane’s downside series. Imo they have great characters as well as great (and consistent) world building. I’ve also heard good things about Jocelyn drake’s vampire series too

“How else were he and Sookie going to have a long-term relationship? Eric didn’t want to have Sookie for 60 years and watch her grow old and die. He wanted her for eternity.”

I’m sure he did want to be with her forever. However, he had multiple chances to turn her and didn’t. And as others said, he was offended that she assumed he wouldn’t stay with her as she aged, so…..why assume that he was dead set on turning her if she didn’t want to be turned? Especially, after there would have been much better times to turn her.

Also in DR he said he likes her warm and wriggling. Sookie never overtly said she wants kids. She thought abou IVF, then she found out abiut telepathy can be inherited and sh wouldn’t want that fr any child Oh! Yeah CH conveniently change that in the lastbook.

I’m confused. How did Eric have a choice if he had no rights? I agree with your thought about him wanting to avoid pain and suffering for the people he cares about. However, I do not agree it was a choice. There was no choice. None of them would have survived his refusal. Eric made this clear to her in DL. Sookie did not listen, per usual.
In his way, he was asking her to use the CD, but he wanted the decision to be hers. It was a test of her love. A test she failed. I agree Eric made the best of a bad situation, but I think he deserved a better sendoff from Sookie.

1. Marry the Queen.
2. Tell the Queen and FC that he won’t marry her and he gets kill. Sookie and Pam gets kill too.
3. Plan to kill FC to take over the kingdom or get someone else to be king.

Eric made the choice to marry the Queen and put Sookie side.

Sookie didn’t make effort to help Eric. Sookie wanted to be first with any guy. Sookie could use the CD to help Eric but she didn’t. Sookie could had talk to Eric to make a plan but she did not. Sookie didn’t put Eric at first. The only thing that she worry about is being dump by Eric.

He also could have negotiated with another Monarch, with he and Sookie as a package deal against nullifying the marriage contract. Of course, Harris seems to have forgotten that FdC isn’t the only game in town.

Except of course, for the extra 100 years to protect her from all the other Vampires, because she’s so desireable. *eyeroll*. As if FdC rules the whole Vampire world. *double eyeroll*

There’s not a single one of the other Monarchs who wouldn’t have jumped at the chance of having a telepath on contract to them, along with Eric, who’s strength made him such a prize for Freya. If nullifying the contract came down to the Monarch overseeing Eric, Eric could have changed alliances.

Also, too bad that protection wasn’t extended to any eventual offspring she might have. Because those Vampires who know of her aren’t going to think to themselves “bet they’d be tasty little buggers”, right? They’ve got nothing but time on their hands after all.

Yep, scratching my head too. All these time we were told that Sookie is desirable and suddenly now all the supes are going to leave her alone? It’s not just vampires that makes her life difficult. There’s the weres, shifters and human too. I hate books that don’t give damn about logic.

I do not think any takeover or switch would have been able to happen. The other monarch would have to take on two kingdoms. I do not think Eric is powerful enough to take on two monarchs. Were any options mentioned in the book by FdC? Could a new monarch void a contract that was already in place? I just have to wonder if this were feasible, wouldn’t Eric have thought of it? I just don’t think grand plans like this would be that easy. FdC and Freyda would not have a leg to stand on if they were.

I think if Eric would have wanted to put Sookie aside, he would have done so after the bond was broken. I truly believe he was trying to get out of the contract. Maybe it is correct he put her aside, but not because it was his first choice. I do not think it was an easy thing for him to do. I think the CD made him finally realize Sookie was not going to change. At a certain point, you have to cut your losses.

Maybe Eric made a decision to go and not fight the contract anymore, but he still did what he could for her. I still do not believe there was a choice. Eventually, someone would have taken revenge.

I feel the most sympathy for Eric in all of this. His “choice” was the ultimate price- his freedom. Even without Sookie in the picture, he would not have wanted to go, but would have in order to protect his retinue. Vampires Sookie calls friends, but doesn’t really care enough about to think about their wellbeing. When you are with a leader, you cannot always be put first. Sookie fails to see the big picture and reverts to avoiding talking about issues.

I just wish they could have had one civil conversation about how they feel and what was really going on. I know this wouln’t happen. Why would Sookie start to listen now? So many regrets, the brunt of which Eric has had to bear.

I agree that Sookie and Eric have never really been able to communicate properly. They may have loved each other, but they were still very different people and wanted different things. They both avoided serious conversations. No, Sookie could never understand what it really meant to be a 1,000 Viking or a vampire sheriff. I don’t believe that Eric was being a shithead, or that he was interested in power. I think he was trying to get out of the contract but couldn’t figure out how to do it w/o endangering himself and all the people he cared about. If he refused to marry Freyda, she and FDC would have found a way to make him and others suffer for that choice. Eric may be old and rich, but in the end, he was only one vampire against 1,000s of years of archaic traditions. He didn’t believe that he could win, so he did what he could to provide for Sookie, Pam, and Karin. Eric sacrificed his freedom and his happiness to keep his loved ones safe. That’s how I see Eric’s decision. That’s who he always was to me.

I never minded Sookie being kind of religious in the books, it certainly fits her character. But the message gets kind of weird in DEA. Sam should go to church so he fits in. Huh. It’s all about blending in with intolernt people that have always thought she was a freak, even if they didn’t want to see her framed for murder.

As a Christian, I never saw Sookie’s faith as core to who she was – but about conforming to expectations of others. This fits with why she wants Sam to go to church. So, to me, her “Christianity” was all about hypocrisy. . .which is part of why I found DEA offensive. By the end, I did not like Sookie at all. It was so disingenuous.

Sookie’s suggestion that Sam go to church is a reflection of the culture of the American South. The American South tends to be religious, and people who attend church services are better regarded. That’s a fact of life in the South. Yes, it’s hypocritical, but that’s how things work. Sookie understands that. Sam isn’t happy about it, but he gets it too and does what Sookie suggests. Sookie was protecting Sam, not trying to make him more religious.

(With the preface that we are talking about characters that CH wrote with her own hand)

1 – Sookie didn’t talk to Eric about her expectations or really get into it when she was angry either. She hung up on him or avoided him or turned her back on him while he was in the room. So that ‘problem’ with Eric was not one-sided. And it actually made for a tedious read because it was so frustrating to see them not talk about shit. But that was the master plan to sell books.

2 – It was very clear throughout the series that Sookie never wanted to be a vampire. I don’t think anyone on this site thought that Sookie was going to be turned. Why do people keep bringing that up?

3 – As for Sookie not being a superhero, please answer me this – what was the point of giving her a fairy king as a grandfather if she’s not going to do jack shit with that? She’s going to go on with her life and pretend that everyone is forever going to be okay with her telepathy? Please. And with everything she had Sookie learn and do – does anyone really think that Sookie will never get a visit from someone wanting to do her harm or force her to do something? No, because CH spent 13 books showing us that Sookie became a walking target as soon as Bill walked into Merlotte’s. Her living her life unmolested as shifter’s wife or even just herself is completely unrealistic in the world that CH created. She wanted Sookie to end up simple, but she didn’t give Sookie a simple world to live in. Oops.

4 – Bullshit on Eric assuming that Sookie would just go along with his marriage to Freyda. AGAIN, Sookie was very clear that this would not happen, and she told Eric that. I also remember Eric saying that he might not tell her everything, but what he told her was the truth. I guess we’re just supposed to believe that he was lying now? Forgive people for being pissed off for having a great character seemingly turn out to be full of shit in the end.

5 – And bullshit on CH not writing a modern day love story between a human and a vampire. If that was not her intention in the beginning, it became very clear that it happened anyway with a majority of her fans. Her view is that she was going to write what she was going to write, and fuck the product that sold her books – the VAMPIRES. Please someone tell me – what exactly WAS the vampire mystery in the SVM series? Turns out it was just a clever hook to sell books by jumping on the vampire popularity. But she has the audacity to act pissed at her vampire-reader fans for being angry that, in the end, the one vampire that her heroine loved, who ‘got’ her, who allowed her to be herself, got the shaft in the end. You can say he didn’t get the shaft, but when it came to Sookie, he did.

6 – Who are you exactly that you snark on us for ‘nitpicking continuity errors’ on a 13 book series with novellas on the side? The continuity errors has been a long standing issue with CH and it is not just now being talked about. I think it’s funny that you are giving an author a free pass on that.

7 – So it’s a self actualization story that had to take 13 books. Riiiiight. I thought they were mysteries! VAMPIRE mysteries at that. LOL What a crock of shit. My suggestion for her next series to avoid all the pesky entitled fans is to not string genre readers along just to sell books. Be upfront with what you’re writing. If you can’t do that, at least respect fans that MADE YOU RICH and give them a story they can live with, even if it’s not the ending they wanted. Don’t shit on your most popular character outside of your hero. Seems like common sense to me. She wasn’t writing War and Peace. She was writing escapism fun.

**************************************************************
“And bullshit on CH not writing a modern day love story between a human and a vampire. If that was not her intention in the beginning, it became very clear that it happened anyway with a majority of her fans. Her view is that she was going to write what she was going to write, and fuck the product that sold her books – the VAMPIRES. Please someone tell me – what exactly WAS the vampire mystery in the SVM series? Turns out it was just a clever hook to sell books by jumping on the vampire popularity. But she has the audacity to act pissed at her vampire-reader fans for being angry that, in the end, the one vampire that her heroine loved, who ‘got’ her, who allowed her to be herself, got the shaft in the end. You can say he didn’t get the shaft, but when it came to Sookie, he did.”
**************************************************************

“And bullshit on CH not writing a modern day love story between a human and a vampire. If that was not her intention in the beginning, it became very clear that it happened anyway with a majority of her fans. Her view is that she was going to write what she was going to write, and fuck the product that sold her books – the VAMPIRES. Please someone tell me – what exactly WAS the vampire mystery in the SVM series? Turns out it was just a clever hook to sell books by jumping on the vampire popularity. But she has the audacity to act pissed at her vampire-reader fans for being angry that, in the end, the one vampire that her heroine loved, who ‘got’ her, who allowed her to be herself, got the shaft in the end. You can say he didn’t get the shaft, but when it came to Sookie, he did.”

THIS, SO THIS! This is why I think she is full of shit when she says she has known it would be Sam since the second book. I still call bullshit on her BULLSHIT.

Yes, CH created a fucked up world that needed inclusion and acceptance. And no, that probably wasn’t going to be accomplished in the short time-frame of this 13 book series. But it’s a crying shame that the heroine, who spent the better part of 12 books advocating for this inclusion and acceptance, ended the series on a giant “Meh. I think everyone’s better off left to their own worlds. Let’s not mix too much. I think I’ll just stick to my ‘normal’ life here, thanks anyway. And vampires are horrible after all.”

Also, I still don’t know how the hell DEA, or the series, fits the definition of a Shakesperean tragedy (much less a sonnet). I think the book or genre better compared is The Wizard of Oz–after many fantastical, scary, and odd adventures, our heroine realizes there’s no place like home.

As for Sookie being a superhero, I don’t know who saw her as such. She was an ordinary girl with an extraordinary ability. She grew from viewing this as a disability to viewing it as something useful and as an integral part of herself. But in DEA we’re back to seeing it as a curse that will bring her and her loved ones nothing but danger.

Sookie didn’t come to terms with the fact that she didn’t want to be a vampire. Other than perhaps a fleeting thought, she was pretty clear all along that she did not want to be a vampire–nothing really to come to terms with on that. She was also always pretty clear about her fondness for Bon Temps and her family home. Had the ending found Sookie being turned and leaving her entire world behind to go rule at the right hand of Eric in Oklahoma after they had overthrown Freyda–well, I think I may have only been more surprised if she acted as though Eric never meant a thing to her and immediately shacked up with Sam. Oh. Right.

Finally, regarding Eric’s decisions regarding his marriage to Freyda. Eric is pragmatic blah blah blah. Yeah, we know this. So he found some sort of practical solution, made this decision to marry Freyda without consulting Sookie, would have Sookie remain at his side as his secret mistress, and assumed Sookie would be okay with all of this. Did we read the same book? If so, all of this action happened off-page and is not actually part of the canon narration. We don’t KNOW that Eric “decided” anything (sorry, I’m not taking Bill’s word for it). And I don’t recall that he ever thought Sookie would be okay with the idea of being his mistress. He suggested it, but that doesn’t mean he thought Sookie would jump at the chance. I could be wrong on that point, but I can’t bring myself to re-read any part of the book to double check.

I feel that Ms. Harris just was tired of the Sookie world and did all she could to put a stake in the hearts of it’s fans. If I didn’t spend so much time seeing the hope of an Sookie/Eric romance, maybe the Sam ending would work. But even Ms.Harris couldn’t truly buy it. Come on it’s like Brady Bunch love, no depth,when I think of Sam/Sookie I think settling for whats safe and pleasurelessness (boring!!!!) Ok, she decided that if her readers wanted their Eric/Sookie so much lets spoil the whole series for them. But she missed her mark , I’ll just know to stop where the romance is HOT and forget DEA ever tried to insult my intelligence, so I well believe Eric finds a loop hole and lives happy after with his Sookie.

Excellent review, SVB. I totally agree with everything you said, and you said it so eloquently!

My overwhelming feeling is disappointment. I am so, so disappointed in the way the series ended, for all the reasons you set out. I wasn’t surprised that Sookie ended up with Sammy the Seal, but I was saddened by the way it happened.

I am particularly disappointed in Sookie herself. For one thing I dislike the way she was so willing to accept faeries and their magic yet deeply suspicious of vampires and their magic. All that fuss about the blood bond yet she doesn’t seem to care a hoot that perhaps the CD has influenced her feelings for Sam.

Further, in Dead Reckoning She said: “When I went in the kitchen with a tray full of dirty dishes, I thought, This is happiness. Last night wasn’t the real me. But it had been. I knew—even as I thought this—that I wasn‘t going to be able to fool myself. I‘d changed in order to survive, and I was paying the price of survival. I had to be willing to change myself forever, or everything I‘d made myself do was for nothing.” This gave me some hope for her, but as it turns out she wasn’t willing to change herself forever, and everything she’d made herself do was indeed for nothing. She ends up back where she started, with limited ambition, completely wasting that gift she despised but with which she could do a great deal of good. This really saddens me and leaves me feeling that all the books were a complete waste of time. And money. So thanks for nothing, Charlaine.

That’s not entirely true. I have met a lot of great people as a result of this fandom, and particularly this place, and enjoyed the discussions and debates, so my life is richer for the experience, but I’m sure as hell not telling Charlaine that fact.

Thank you for taking the time to read and review what I can’t bring myself to. Like you I have been, no I AM emotionally invested in the characters that Charlaine Harris created. I waited with excitement over the last few years for each new book to be published. I got mad when True Blood promised to bring those characters to ‘life’ on tv only to fail miserably. But it is nothing, NOTHING to being short changed so brutally by the author herself. Eloquence escapes me on the topic but suffice to say the author should have respected her creations and her fans. I hope she realises that in assassinating her characters and alienating her books’ fandom so thoroughly she not only looked her ‘gift horse’ in the mouth, she beat it to death with a hammer and made horse burgers out of it.

My emotional investment isn’t a total loss as the characters live on in the wonderful fanfiction out there. So viva fanfiction and thanks SVB for your wonderful blog!

I have not read the last three books and I’m glad not to have done. but I want you remmercier SVB to have read for many of us, it makes be very hard for you especially when you know how it ends so why thank you.
I read (and translated) all your comments. So thank you to apologize for my poor English
I love the characters of svm, and I think unfair end in each of them.
Unfair to sookie ultimately gives the impression of being fickle, jumping from bed to bed without giving a brief thought. A bit like of as a whitetrash of hotshot and it bother me.
If his love for eric was also poor, how to believe in his love for Sam? I rather feel that she is using him and even sam does not deserve it.
recent books many of us knew it would end up with sam including myself but I would NEVER thought she would leave eric in this shit!

the sookie I learned to admire the books do not like injustice and I really was hoping to stage a farewell worthy of what they represented for each other for all his books.

The main reason I want to Mrs. Harris, is that it has made its heroine it was at the beginning: “sookie crazy” dotted with hints of racism vampire, and narrowness of mind .

This is unfortunate.

I could never regret having read the first 10 books because it allowed me to know some amazing people and I could never even hate mrs harris because it allowed me to know the fanfiction, because even mrs harris abandoned his characters long, fanfiction was better than it could ever do.
pity that in the world of mrs harris sookie stackhouse became the new Arlene Fowler.

[...] laptop won't let me copy the article but here's one of the bigger blogs review of Dead Ever After: Dead On Arrival – A Review of Dead Ever After | Sookieverse . "One of the universal rules of happiness is: always be wary of any helpful item that [...]

BRAVO SVB, BRAVO! *bows down to the master* You wrote down all of my thoughts and THEN SOME! Even though this book…SUCKED DONKEY BALLS. I’m glad to have made the friends I have made through this fandom. I’m proud to consider you my friend. But you should really GET OUTTA MY HEAD! LOL It’s always been so weird how you always say what I’m thinking and feeling…

I hope CH chokes on all the money she’s earned, and I hope this brings about the end of her writing career. Yes, I’m feeling mean and spiteful, but she deserves it, IMO.

If SO MANY of us were wrong, then maybe it’s NOT OUR FAULT? Maybe the blame should rest on CH’s shoulders for being a terrible writer? I know I’ll never buy or read any of her other books. I no longer trust her as a writer and one who thinks “settling” is right and stepping out of your comfort zone is wrong. One who is not liberal enough in today’s day and age…is not a writer I want to read.

Thanks SVB! This review was worth all your tireless efforts. Now, let’s go back to drinking…LOL

” … devil agrees to grant Cope a wish. As one astute Amazon reviewer pointed out, this sounds like an awesome premise for a book – until it’s revealed that Cope asked the devil to procure a magical fairy object for him. An object that can….wait for it, now…GRANT HIM A WISH!”

I feel your pain. Have now read it twice and am disappointed with several things e.g.: 3rd person point of view is jarring, the “mystery” is rather boring, the minor characters HEAs are rounded off too neatly/quickly and I felt for Eric as 200 years is a very, very long time to be a consort (even to a beautiful and rich etc. etc. Queen). That I didn’t see that ending coming is not a problem for me. This isn’t about Sookie not being with Eric.

I was so sad at the end of this book….utterly disappointed. I felt like it let Sookie down.I thought the same thing about how this book could of been an epic story of how people can transcend their difference and make it work even when they are so different in so many way….yet in the end—she cloisters herself with her “own kind” and tells all of the readers—nope that really can’t happen.

I don’t want to read a story about one of many girls I went to school with who settled for the safe choice and never left the town they grew up in or experienced anything…I’m not saying that’s a bad choice in real life but it’s not what I want to read about—-I can watch that unfold everyday. This whole series had been about Sookie’s growth and her burgeoning relationship with the Supe world and in the end….she’s back to being a Merlotte’s employee and has very little relationship with the Vamps etc…..I feel Jason grew more in this series than Sookie did and Eric was literally sacrificed and butchered in the end. CH didn’t stay true to her characters as Sookie and Eric are both fighters and it’s mentioned over and over and over again throughout all the books–this shared trait they have and yet in the end–no one fought–Eric accepted his life being controlled for the next 200 years and Sookie didn’t fight to keep her man. Sam and Sookie don’t even express romantic love for each other at the end….Sam wants someone dependable and capable of “wild” sex…

I felt like I didn’t know Sookie, Eric, Bill or even Pam by the end. Jason had more character growth throughout the series than Sookie ended up having….and that’s sad for those of us who stuck it out and finished this series with CH. I could of been fine with Sookie and Eric not being together in the end–had there been any kind of resolution to their relationship—but there wasn’t–just a “I rescind your invitation” and we were back to the earlier books and Sookie running from relationships when they got difficult.

I totally agree with your review….it’s spot on….I for one will NEVER read another Charlaine Harris series……and I’ll have to consider the SVB a fanfiction story I didn’t really care for in the end…..

I did still feel in the end that Eric loved Sookie….even after everything. He gave up an additional 100 years to keep her protected…he snuck out to see her and warn her. He deeply cut himself at the breaking of the marriage bond and told her it meant nothing to him……in the end he still sacrificed himself for Sookie and showed her love by protecting her as best he could…..Ironically—it will probably be for naught as I’m sure Sookie won’t last long under Sam’s protection—I mean she got kidnapped right under his nose!!!

just wanna say that the entry title – dead on arrival – is so correct for me (and most probably for most). coz by the day the release date came, i lost all interest already. it’s just bad story-telling to end the series like that. it’s true, this last book just feels disconnected to the rest of the 12 books when it terms of the characterizations.

Thank you for this review. I am so glad you were able to express what I as an apparently incompetent reader feel. I still love Eric, I really don’t care about Sookie, in this fantasy world great things could have happened. Instead they were flushed down the drain.

Thanks so much SVB for all the years of putting what we are feeling down into words. This review is perfect and I hope CH and others on her team read it and realise what a mess they’ve made of what could have been a kick ass series!

It’s been a pleasure sharing this journey with you and others in the fandom. One thing we can thank CH for is bringing us all together in loving the Viking Vampire God Eric Northman.

I have a question. I’ve seen several posters say they feel Sookie is a bigot. How are you getting that impression? She’s still friends with Bill and Pam so it’s obviously not that she hates vampires. She has said that she was sick of being involved in vampire politics but who wouldn’t?

I have heard that saying but I don’t think it applies to Sookie. She dated two vampires. Both of those relationships fell through for perfectly legitimate reasons, IMO. Not ending up with someone doesn’t mean you are racist towards their ethnicity, religion, ect. It simply means you weren’t meant to be.

“You DO know there are tons of people who date people of another race – yet they are still very racist.”

I agree. For me it was moments of reading Sookie’s internal thoughts (e.g. admitting she wasn’t as bothered by vampires getting killed as she was by humans, not questioning when the Were representative inferred that Were’s were more acceptable b/c they were more “human”, etc). I also read that she made blanket statements about vampires in DEA.

As for the end of her relationships with both vampires…in Eric’s case the end could just as easily have been interpreted as her being unwilling to face the difficulties inherent in being in relationship with him b/c he was too “other”

For me, these things don’t make Sookie an absolutely horrible person. However, the pile up of these things with no resolution or her coming to a different understanding of things (along with everything being in her POV) made me not identify with her and not want to be in her head any more.

While I respect your guy’s point of view on this I didn’t read it like that. Like I said in one of my earlier post it’s amazing how people view things differently. It keeps life interesting doesn’t it? : )

No problem. Like I said before, I’m glad reading the SVM introduced me to other authors/books. I just wish I had stopped reading them earlier than I did. And you’re certainly entitled to your viewpoint.

There is a solid explantion of the word bigotry on wikipedia : The origin of the word bigot and bigoterie (bigotry) in English dates back to at least 1598, via Middle French, and started with the sense of “religious hypocrite”.
So when I call Sookie a bigot it is because of her “trying to pass” as human and at being a good Christian, whilst she herself knows all to well that she isn’t. Going to church on Sunday and getting Sam to do the same in order to gain “acceptance” isn’t going to change that.

Further more, the final story line offends me because it reeks of apartheid :
the fairies were send back to their homeland, Sookie is banned from Fangtasia, the interracial(species) marriage is destroyed, Pam states that their frienship is limited by the fact that they belong to separate groups, sookie ends up with the only guy that fits into her etnical group (i.e. not quit human, but able to “pass”),…

And all that whilst this series was sold to us as being the journey of a girl with the “essential spark”.
No wonder so many people are outraged by it, and it warms my heart to see all the backlash because of it – there is hope for humanity after all.

And all that whilst this series was sold to us as being the journey of a girl with the “essential spark”. No wonder so many people are outraged by it, and it warms my heart to see all the backlash because of it – there is hope for humanity after all.
***
That’s really the saddest thing to me. Poor Sookie, it was all for nothing.

IMHO, Sookie’s friendship with Bill/Pam is like that old saying, “Not all black people are bad.” Which anyone with half a lick of sense can tell you that fucking implies that MOST ARE, but I found one that is okay to befriend. That is a big fucking crock of shit. I spent the first 30 years of my life living in a Bon Temps of my own. I know how it is in small-town southern United States. I’ve lived it.

Meanwhile, Sookie has always talked shit about the vampires throughout a majority of the series, but I always took it as merely stating facts, not hate. They are terrifying, they are possesive, blah-blah-blah. It never occured to me that she hated that about them….just that she was brighter than most, and knew how to maneuver in the supe world without getting herself killed.

I have deleted all of my ebooks, so I am unable to pull up a single quote, but it would always go something like this:

Sookie says “We have to help them!”

Vampire (Bill/Eric/Pam) would say, “Why?”

And then Sookie would shake her head and think, “Vampires.”

It was the context in which she would say “Vampires.” It’s kind of like when I say “Well that just fucking figures.” Also, she would say shit like “I knew I could rescind her invitation but then I’d have to watch my back for the rest of my life.”
While that can be a terrifying realization, I thought she accepted that part of dealing with vampires.

Eenyhoo…

The part that pisses me off is that in the beginning of the books, Sookie seemed different from the small-minded people of Bon Temps. She was young, bright-eyed, idealistic, and ready to see the world. She, unlike everyone else in the town, was looking forward to meeting her first vampire. She read Vampire magazines not because she was some disgusting fang-banger, but because she was filling her mind with knowledge. That’s what I read anyway. That’s what I thought. I loved how open-minded she was. But then by the end of the books, it’s as though that light behind her eyes was put out. She ventured out into the world, only to find that she really belongs as a barmaid in a hick-town full of bigots. It’s like she came home to tell everyone, “Y’all were all right! Vampires are bad! Forgive me God, for I have sinned.” THAT is the part that I can’t stand…that I can’t stomach. After all that she has been through, she would rather live amongst the bigots, as a bigot.

When explaining all of this to my husband, I told him that if CH had been writing the story of my life, she would have him divorce me, then I would go back to hick-town Oklahoma…living across the field from my abusive ex-husband, and fucking that nice man down at the corner grocery store. FFS, my REAL LIFE love story pans out better than the bullshit faery-tale CH wrote.

You hit the nail on the head. I keep seeing people that liked the book saying all Sookie ever wanted was to be “normal”. Well define normal. Because when we first met her she had already evolved beyond their small mindedness and knew she’d never be “normal” by their standards. She said she wanted a life of her own and claimed that opening her eyes to this whole new world made her feel that she could have one. But forget all that, what she really wanted was to fit in & conform to these small minded views? How depressing. And I know what you mean… these books used to be an escape from real life, my real life is so much better.

Its month after the book was published and Im still angry. Im sure Im not the only one…it all boils down to what you are saying…the complete flip of Sookie and the story developed in 13 previous books. So many instances in the story she relished being “different” therefore her return to her original stance of “normal” seemed like lazyness to me. The fact that the author is still putting her foot in her mouth justifying how she ended the book underlines for me her long expressed sentiment that she was done with Sookie. Too bad we kept buying books and she wrote more Sookie stories,making her richer in the process.

I haven’t read the book so anyone who has should correct me, but one of the reviews on Amazon said that Sookie was with Tara and Tara said that people should spit on vampires when they saw them and then Sookie outed a were that came into Tara’s clothing store. To me that shows that Sookie’s not only okay with Tara thinking and saying that, but that she thinks that the two natured should be singled out too. Maybe she did it just to fit in with the bigots in town, but then Sookie is a bigot through complacency.

I also would argue that her feeling that she and Sam need to be more human when they both know they are not completely human is bigoted as well. If there isn’t anything wrong with being different then why do they need to go out of the way to change their nature? Maybe it was written as “hey we should try and see if we can be more human for a little while and if it doesn’t work we’ll go back to the way we were,” but the way people talk about it makes me think it was not so casual and more stemmed from trying to make themselves change who they are so they can fit in.

Great review SVB. I would love it if you did do a book club on this site…I would read what ever is recommended by all you sharp cookie’s.

To say I was disappointed with CH and DEA…is a very mild statement.

To reduce Sookie to to Arlene’s level of bigoted ‘TRAILER TRASH’ was just too much. To excuse it by going back to her christian values and worrying about her soul? Hey, I have an idea, maybe she can go back to god and be saved??…makes me puke.

Sookie is responsible directly for killing people as well as helping to others kill people…oops, excuse me some of them really weren’t people, yeah, some were sups…so their lived didn’t really count in her f*cked up bigoted brain.

My take on Sookie is that she really has joined her small town mind set that anything different is wrong. She has joined the REDNECKED BIGOTS of Bon Temps. Hopefully ‘crazy Sookie’ can fit in if she goes to church often enough, holds prayer circles at her house and sends home fairy tomatoes as her token gift to her Christian guests. She’s living in denial because she’s still part sup like the dog she’s f’ing, so will continue to be ‘crazy Sookie’. Such a hypocrite.

I used to laugh at Arlene and her christian ethics. Now all I see is that at least Arlene was honest her need for a man (any man handy) her bigotry against gays, vamps and shifter, blacks. She was all good, not problem nailing someone to a cross.

So now Sookie has the trailer behind the bar to screw who ever is handy…Sam will do in a pinch or an itch. (love? my rosie rear end) At least it closer than Arlene’s trailer.

Why would an author do that to her protagonist?

I’m really disappointed that a Southern writer (I’m southern) that appeared to have something positive to say about acceptance of different…tolerance and a need for humanity towards others that don’t conform to the general rules of society was really lying to us all 13 books. OOPS, WE JUST READ THAT INTO HER STORY??…I forgot for a moment that I was really too stupid to understand what was written or implied.

Now I’m sorry Arlene is dead…her and Sookie could have been BFF again they have so much in common. ;(

Sookie Stackhouse…the new Arlene reincarnated by the MAKER GOD.

I will never read her trash again!

I’m not a believer in the God myth. I grew out of it, but always respectful of those who do.

Oh, it wasn’t just implied in her story, Charlaine Harris explicitly stated in interviews that she wanted to make people more tolerant through her writing.

“‘I don’t write the books just for the adventure of them—I have an agenda. Sookie serves my agenda for the Southern Vampire series. She has a disability, she’s an outcast who dates other outcasts—vampires—yet she’s a brave young woman with a lot of charm, I think. The series is really about marginalized people . . . I just write with a purpose.’ Rhodes Interview

“Charlaine Harris writes all her books with an underlying agenda. For some readers the intent is very clear; others just read the books for entertainment and miss the point. Harris is okay with either. Understanding the underlying purpose, however, enhances the value of the books, particularly since Harris’ agenda is so effectively carried forward by Alan Ball in True Blood.”

I can understand why you thought you misread the text in the books though since we’re all clearly illiterate, entitled readers.

Totally agree with you. This is how Sookie started to feel/read to me since book 12, right after going to church is explicitly added to her list of activities.

She wants redemption for the things she’s done, so renouncing her current way of living (i.e. renouncing the damned (vampires) and their world) seems to her to be the returning to the being “good” path.

I could see that this was one way for Sookie’s character to lean towards; does not mean is the most interesting or that I, as a reader of the series, have to like it/approve of it, just because is the author’s choice.

Preach it, sistah! Thank you, SVB, for your insightful and eloquent review that has captured our disappointment and disillusionment with CH’s ending. The points you bring up, as well as others mentioned by so many thoughtful reviewers, echo the reasons that I am also disappointed with the series and am regretful that I bought the books, lost sleep by staying up to read them, and spent time and money to see CH on her book tours. Some people say “just read fan fiction to get the ending you want,” but I’m afraid that it too has been tainted by the “real story.” Except for “Eric,” of course…I’ll follow DeeDee to the bitter end there, and I’m sure my heart will break for Eric all over again.

I found the books and your blog during the second season of the-show-that-must-not-be-named, so I’ve been around awhile even if I don’t comment often. I just wanted to thank you for providing this wonderful place for us to commiserate about all things Sookie related. I was always in awe of the analysis shared here and am so appreciative of all your hard work running the site. Thank you for everything.

thanx 4 the great review. I cancelled my Amazon pre-order. Books 11 & 12 were soooooooooo boring, I wasn’t expecting much from 13. Sookie & the BonTon croud minus the vampires completely killed my interest. I didn’t think SS deserved Eric. so I wasn’t sad about them not HEA. I fell for Eric on TB for seeing ot only for the first time 2 years after it started, then bought all the books including dupes of the first 8. The best character she created was Eric Northman & he will live onwith or without CH or SS. Lomg Live ERIC NORTHMAN..

I don’t think there are enough likes in the world to truly cover my feelings on this. I too am sick and tired of being told I’m only miffed because my chosen suitor didn’t get the HEA. I was well and truly camped out in Team Jacob throughout the Twilight series….even got excited when I heard that SM herself preferred Jacob and wanted to make the switch…..but she didn’t because she knew the majority of her readers wanted Edward and I was fine with that because her story sort of somewhat kind of ended up making sense. (The fact I now find I prefer the emo disco-ball series is distressing to me). So many books and tv shows I have loved haven’t resolved love-triangles the way I want and I’m fine with it because again, it all makes sense. THIS ONE DIDN’T!!!!!!! for all the reasons listed above.

I could go on forever about all the other things wrong with this (Sookie acting pal-like with her rapist, fricking seals etc etc) but in the end what’s it gonna matter? CH is deleting negative comments from her facebook page (very noticeable love-fest over there), acting like she’s all surprised in interviews when she stated beforehand that she was not doing a tour and she knew this end would spark controversy and basically giggling away in an enclosed room clutching her squillions and thinking of ways to make us all buy this coda.

I agree with everything you’ve said in this blog. It didn’t feel like an end to a book series as much as it felt like a bitter break up after a relationship that lasted for so very long.
I knew Sookie would not end up with Eric, but what pissed me off was the fact that CH didn’t even let us say goodbye to him. He barely even had a chapter to himself.
I never needed Sookie around to read about Eric. So the fact that CH just dismissed him in such a crude and unemotional manner made me feel like my relationship called and broke up with me over the phone. Distant and cowardly.

This is the first time I’ve commented on here but I love reading the reviews and comments from like minded readers. From the beginning of the book, you could see the ending coming from the distinct lack of ‘otherness’ around Sookie. I think CH was trying too hard to wrap things up, if she knew she was writing a coda surely she could have left some questions unanswered for that?
Being the eternal optimist I’m hoping the coda resolves some of the major plot issues from DEA and that Sookie bashes her head on something hard and realises what a mistake she’s made and somehow ends up with Eric. Maybe CH had envisioned the shit hitting the fan with this book and the coda will be her redemption? Especially as she’s now loosing fans!Alternatively I’ll write my own ending that ends with Sookie and Eric

There’s always been a thing that bugged me though – when Sookie gave Sam the money for the bar I couldn’t help but think everytime I read it; that Eric would never have given Sookie a stake in Fangtasia. Maybe that should have been our tip off?

I saw it pointed out that Sookie wasn’t even really given a choice by Sam in this. She lent him money he needed. He didn’t pay her back or offer to, unless it was off page, instead he gifted her partial (not half) ownership stake in the bar. That’s fairly presumptuous.

Thank you so much for your review. You are able to put into words what most of us feel. My first thoughts after reading DEA was betrayed & disappointed. Who would have thought CH would have ended it so badly? She (CH) made us fall for Eric then stabbed us in the back. It will take a while to get over it.
What will happen to this blog now? I do hope you will still be here for us. I have enjoyed this blog and have looked forward to all your reviews. Again thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings with us.
Cheryl

Everything you’ve highlighted are the reasons why this book sucks so much. But hey, we’re just the dumb schmucks who bought her books, spent endless hours in online discussion and gave her the benefit of the doubt when all of the inconsistencies should have given us a clue that her writing was sub par. But a day late and a few hundred dollars short as it turns out.

“There was something very calculated and deliberate in Harris’ depiction of Eric in this book. And I don’t for ONE second believe that she wrote this half asleep.”

Agreed, this book was absolutely the message about Eric, and ultimately Sookie, she wanted to get across. And that’s what’s so disappointing. This was it? This? Makes no frickin sense whatsoever when viewing the series as a whole.

I’m not sure what her goal was with this willful, contrary sendoff for these characters, but I will in turn make a deliberate and calculated decision to never ever let her books darken my bookcase again.

SVB excellent review. I was with you all the way.
I am still thankful for CH for opening me to paranormal romance/urban fantasy. Though all the other series I’ve read didn’t leave me feeling like Theon Greyjoy!
There are so many great and creative authors out there including Jeanne Frost, JR Ward, and many others.

I’d had a feeling since DitF that CH was moving away from Eric after 7 books leading up to him. Though she essentially emasculated him in the last two books.

I had really thought CH would end this the way Buffy ended. A strong women comfortable enough with herself to choose to go on without a man, surrounded by friends and keep friendships with the vampires. (assuming you know what really happens to Spike). This would have shown character growth all around.

I just realized that I didn’t express my view of the series very well on here. Which could be why I was much more comfortable with the end. I expressed it better on another site so I copied what I said there. Here is how I viewed the series:

I think in a way Sookie did get her HEA. I never read the series as a paranormal romance. I saw it as more of a paranormal coming of age story. IMO, Sookie was trying to discover herself and she did that. She grew up as “Crazy Sookie” and she wanted to be accepted as a valued member of the community. When she was arrested and she had all the support from the community at her bond hearing I felt that was a turning point for her. She realized that she didn’t need a man because she had great friends who would support her no matter what. I think one of the best moments in the books is at the end when she is standing on the porch with Sam and says something along the lines of if Sam walked away from her that minute she would ok. She would get through it. I absolutely loved the last line “I am Sookie Stackhouse and I belong here”. I think it pretty sums up what she wanted.

I think that’s the saddest part. Sookie settles for acceptance for herself at the cost of everything else. There’s no broader message of tolerance for diversity. Charlaine Harris wrote a series that advocates the exact opposite of that.

If Sookie doesn’t need a man, why would she jump into bed with Sam? If she’s comfortable with who she is, why does she lie to Sam about being able to read his mind? Sookie’s “passing” for normal and “passing”

So this wonderful girl (regardless of age, Sookie seems like a girl to me), with a huge gift/power (albeit does have some bad side effects), that has an “essential” spark, is happiest serving fried pickles for the rest of her life, because she is where she belongs with her good friends Tara, Hoyt, Andy, etc. They are her people.

And being alone would be just fine, too, because lord forbid she rush anything with a guy/best friend she knows better than anyone and just had sex with.

Obviously her dreams of what a good life are different than mine, it just seemed there was a time Sookie might have wanted a little more and she was fully capable of getting it, with or without Eric.

I was fine with an unconventional HEA, this one doesn’t seem happy at all to me.

Excuse me jump on your post but I would just remind you that in Book 5 Dead as a Doornail, the child of Hotrain charles attack sookie and a large part of the community defend sookie!
wait eight more books for us to repeat the same thing, it is a distinct lack of imagination.
I personally come to think that the only person who had a balls in Bontemps is gran!

My interpretation of Sookie has never been that she’s “needed a man”. I think Sookie’s fascination with the Vamps are pretty clear in DUD – she finally DIDN’T feel alone. She wasn’t the only one different.

I don’t think she lied to Sam. I think that was a consistancu issue on CH’s part. Also it makes a lot of sense to me that she would want to fit in. When you have been the odd man out your whole life I can imagine that all you want to do is fit in. I also don’t see the tolerance issue. When you portray a whole town in the deep south being accepting of a telepath, shapeshifter, and vampires to an extant that’s screams tolerance to me.

Thinking that the vamps may not even have souls, thinking their deaths are less than the death of a human, listening to Tara blather on w/vamp hate and letting it slide, etc. This is where the intolerance comes in.

And I don’t think Sookie needs to be the PC police, but when people say offensive things around her, especially about people she cares/cared about, she should politely ask that they stop. She doesn’t need to change their minds, but they should respect her views, too. If they continue on with very offensive things she needs to reevaluate the friendship, because no, you don’t have to associate with the Steve Newlins or Fred Phelps of the world, even if they are your neighbors.

“And I don’t think Sookie needs to be the PC police, but when people say offensive things around her, especially about people she cares/cared about, she should politely ask that they stop.”

The townspeople’s views were less important to me than Sookie’s, particularly since I had to read everything through her POV. I could accept her not saying anything, if she at least questioned and/or disagreed with such statements in her internal monologue. In the end (for me), the “pros” of sookie as a heroined did not outweigh the “cons”. I didn’t hate her, but I definitely had to stop reading b/c I did not want to see things through her eyes anymore.

To be fair the question of vampires having souls has been rampant through every vampire series I’ve ever read. Her thinking they don’t have souls is pretty typical. Also I don’t think it’s fair to call out Sookie for not caring as much if a vampire dies when all the vampires in the books could have cared less when most humans died. I don’t see anyone saying that Pam or Eric are bigots because of it. That’s a double standard. Also in all the books I don’t remember once where Sookie said in her internal monologue that she thought vampires were less. If anything she believed they deserved equal rights. Even after she knew how terrible their internal system (vamp politics) were she was defending them to people like the preacher who came into Merlottes.

In the final book, did Sookie make blanket statements about vampires in general?

“Her thinking they don’t have souls is pretty typical.”

I agree in the sense that it isn’t surprising (or flattering to her) that Sookie doesn’t think vampire’s have souls despite seeing that they are capable of just as much good as humans.

“…when all the vampires in the books could have cared less when most humans died…”

Most humans aren’t particularly bothered when other humans die. Also, vampires couldn’t afford to “care less” when humans died. They were not full citizens and humans killing a vampire in the sookieverse were not subject to life imprisonment or the death penalty (unless things changed after I stopped reading the books). Therefore, in the eyes of the law the balance was already tipped against them. Furthermore, vampires had already shown some recognition of human rights even within vampire politics (e.g. Ancient pythoness decision regarding the human parents in ATD).

Finally, as I said before, Sookie didn’t dispute or question the things I mentioned before in her own mind. This along with some key things she DID think in the end made me not want to see things from her POV anymore. Simply put, after a certain point in the books I did not follow nor agree with her logic.

But the whole question of souls was solved in this book. Only the soulless could break through Amelia’s ward on the house. Horst couldn’t break through. Thereby proving vampires do retain their souls. However after this happens it is not addressed any further and no character has a revelation about it once it happens. Sloppy sloppy sloppy since the souls or lack thereof was supposedly a theme in this book, or at least was set up to be a theme.

I find it astounding that anyone who has read the entire series buys this whole idea that Sookie is really going to have a normal HEA in BT. I mean, really? After all the crazy shit that’s happened? Her fame as a telepath in the supe world? She’s just going to grow old and read her kids minds and her grandkids minds and everyone’s gonna think it’s cute and love her sooooo much! It boggles the mind. Making Eric go away doesn’t take away who she is, regardless or how CH ultimately laid all her problems at Eric’s feet.

Since Sookie easily reads Sam’s mind in the short story set after DEA, and has at other points throughout the series, I believe Sookie lies to Sam. Like she intentionally misled his mother, after Sookie read Bernie’s disparaging thoughts about Sookie, so Bernie (and Sam) were more comfortable being around her.

That makes a lot more sense to me than CH suddently forgetting that Sookie can read Sam. Whatever. It is a crappy book if it’s a huge continuity lapse and it’s a crappy book if Sookie is lying to Sam about herself because he is more comfortable being around her. Either way, it’s a fail.

I see why you would think that but that short story was written before CH wrote DEA. I really do think it just an author’s or editing mistake. Someone should have caught it but I don’t think the CH intended for it to come across as Sookie lying.

Sookie reads Sam’s thoughts periodically through the books, for example she read his thoughts about the maenad and about paying his difficulty in paying his beer distributor bill. She reads his mother’s thoughts in Small Town Wedding then she reads Sam’s thoughts in short story set after DEA. If all the mentions of Sookie reading Sam’s mind are continuity errors, then someone needs a new continuity editor. You should do a re-read of the series and highlight all the mentions of Sookie reading Sam or his mother’s mind. She also reads Quinn’s mind and Alcide’s. It would be weird if Sam was the only shifter whose mind Sookie *couldn’t* read, wouldn’t it?